Fantasy Siva {{The Legend Of The Destroyer}}
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Update 24
Ranked Missions
Fifty years ago, there was a war.
It was dubbed The War of the Braves.
In that war, the establishment of the new frontiers were started and thus it led to the current plotline where the players of RPG: Terroa must banish the aliens and free the world of their reigns.
In that war, where the Humans and the Terrans won back the current free territories, the Walled Cities, and the places where Humans and Terrans are living, young Aldrin Eclaire had once served as an apprentice knight.
Knights such as the late Sir Isaac Beowolf, had the backing of his title and his lineage that he was granted the privilege to train warriors as his apprentice. One of those lucky to have been personally picked by the great esteemed knight was Aldrin. During the war, though his training was incomplete, the rest of the legion where he belonged to was eradicated. Only him and Sir Beowolf was the sole survivors of the surprise attack. 2
As he opened his eyes from this unrealistic dream, he saw five faces, one at which he reached using his time woven hand just to touch the dried marks of battle.
Seventy year old Aldrin Eclaire, with a body eaten up by an incurable terminal disease, traced the scars on Siva’s face and made a contented smile as he opened his mouth and spoke the words, “How nostalgic.” with a trembling voice.
“Those scars are from fighting a Cleopa.”
Siva was shocked and amazed as he raised his head to look at his companions. Then he looked at their host, Andrea Eclaire, with doubtful eyes.
Andrea nodded with a weak smile and Siva held the frail hand and with a stern expression said, “You have a sharp eye there, sir.”
The old warrior laughed and used all his strength to grab on to the young hand in his hand.
“You, young lad, had eyes of a warrior. I can see my old master in you, he, alone at that time, charged into the ranks of the dreaded demons and killed a hundred of them and still made sure that I will go back alive to tell his tale. Oh…time surely passes by…”
“It does.” Siva agreed rather forcefully.
“But young warrior, surely, you didn‘t come here to hear of an old man‘s tale.”
“Actually…” Again, he looked up to check for their host’s reaction and upon seeing that she agreed, Siva let go of his restraints and told him straightly. “I came here to ask of your great ancestor, Christofer Eclaire.”
“Ah…” At that moment, the old man’s eyes became that of a strong willed person and the life in his eyes wandered throughout the corners of the room. And as he had confirmed that nobody else was inside except for them, he spoke again. “What do you want to ask?”
“About him and his work, Clemente‘s Demise.”
The old man’s face hardened as soon as he heard it and although Siva sensed that he was getting at some place, Andrea suddenly kneeled down and checked his grand father’s vitals.
“He‘s weak.” She told Siva. “I think that‘s enough for today. Let‘s have him rest.”
Siva stood up and could only let the grandchild take over but then as soon as he motioned to walk away, the old man’s hand suddenly gripped his left hand.
“Wait…” The old man forced a weak voice. “What do you want to ask me? What of that book?”
Steeling his resolve, Siva faced the man and spoke up in a solid tone.
“It‘s his message. I believe he left us a message.”
“Ah…” The moment he let go of that reaction, the old man’s face became that of happiness. Even Andrea who cared for him with all her heart was baffled by the sudden change of his grand father’s reactions. “What did you see? Tell me child.”
The old man bade for Siva to come closer, seeming to want him to whisper it to him.
At that, Siva kneeled back and approached his ear, then he whispered, “Find the Providence.” That made the old man smile.
Then he called for his grandchild. “Andrea.”
“Yes grandfather?”
“This man knows, lead him.”
Surprised, Andrea studied Siva’s appearance and her expression softened as soon as she saw the honest look on Siva’s eyes.
“It would seem that you can be trusted. Follow me.”
As he motioned for Siva and the company to follow, a nurse came and tended for the old man. Siva and the rest’s attention was now fixed on their host who looked a little more than thirty, a mother of two kids, and a wife of the city’s Vice Mayor.
In their house’s basement, in the dust covered table in the middle of the room, Andrea brought a candle and placed it on the table. She wiped off the dusts and Siva removed the books and forgotten plate and glass. +
It was then that a map of the surrounding landscape came to their sight.
‘We’re the first people.’
As soon as Siva sent the whisper through their communicator device, Volt and the rest looked at him and nodded, trying their best to hide the excitement in their chest.
Then as Andrea pointed at the door at which Agatha who was at the far back made sure to lock. After that, Andrea pointed at a mountain peak.
As soon as her finger made contact with the laid out map, a sound notification echoed on their party and a pop up window appeared on their visions. That in itself was the surprising part since the window that popped out suddenly on their visions is a [Mission Window].
Mission.
The difference between a quest and a mission wasn’t that much big but it was still a clear deviation.
Quests are literally a call for adventure.
It is activated when the user had tapped an event, or a detail in some place, or by a person, or something, directly connected or with regards to RPG: Terroa’s main storyline. Or if the player himself (or his party) had been employed by a certain important NPC that triggered a quest. It can take up to several days, weeks, or months before completion and they sometimes are those that needed one or more people to be completed.
Missions, however, are short term quests that has immediate need of results. The longest time a mission could go on is a week. That is, if it was really a long distance errand or if it was somewhere along the lines of an A or S-ranked mission.
Sometimes, low rank missions are considered high rank quests. Simply put, missions are the errands from an NPC, meaning, they only see the errand and its simplicity as the entirety and not the difficulty along the way. And when it was said difficulty, it means though the errand is a simple E-ranked mission where you have to deliver a letter to someone, considering that you had to cross oceans, desserts, forests full of monsters, spend personal money, or actually fight off a dragon, the mission difficulty in itself was entirely a joke. +
Even the rewards wasn’t worth it.
In the end, what missions are all about is the fact that its unpredictable nature —unlike Quests where if it says it’s an S-rank it is an S-rank, is the reward itself. You never know what you’ll get from a mission and if you put it in a different perspective, the loot you get along the way is the reward itself.
And so, looking at the small window that popped up in their visions, Siva and the rest could only hold their breaths in shock.
[Mission]
“An old man’s legacy” +
Rank “B” difficulty
Requirements: Eclaire Family’s trust.
Limit: 18 days
Will you accept?
(Yes?) — (No?)
As the window remained, Andrea began to pull her finger and spoke in a restrained tone.
“There is a cave in this place. Deep inside the cave is an altar. In the altar is a package. Retrieve it.”
“But…” Siva realized it was too late to retract his voice and so he had no choice but to continue. “I heard the old man say that you had to lead us.”
And that’s where he received a smack in the head.
“Stupid! Can‘t you see I‘m a mother of two kids! Or are your eyes just there to make you look human?”
Hearing the words, along with a surprised heart, the third emotion that swell on his chest at that moment was irritation. It’s because somehow, those words had reminded him of another person.
On the other hand, the sound of restrained laughs did not escape Siva’s ears. And when he raised his hurting head, there, Agatha and Hawkeye covering their mouths along with teary eyes while Samara and was talking to the wall and also covering her mouth. But the greatest blow to his pride was Volt who, with no restraint, had the time of his life laughing at one corner.
He was left with no choice but to pout and listen to Andrea.
“Do you get me? Retrieve the package and I will tell you what you needed to know.”
Siva was urged to ask why she won’t come but then he stopped himself before the first word came out. And so, they exited the room and was guided to the dining area where they had lunch before departing.
The words of goodbye was never spoken but before they left, they all agreed on the mission and carried their selves out towards the Southern Gate.
At the entrance, the view of the mountain Andrea had pointed at can be seen. It was one of the two peaks that entrapped the Walled City of Hagonoy, giving the water and the life for its people and of course, towards the users.
“How many days?” Hawkeye asked to no one but the person who answered her query was Siva.
“A week at most. Four at least.”
Volt put an elbow on his right shoulder. “And that‘s coming from experience, I bet.”
“No. Just my calculations.”
“Hahahaha…you‘re really weird you know that?”
“Funny,” Samara opened up her floating bag (a very expensive item for Mages. +100 inventory slots) and pulled a wand. “I really do feel an excitement different from the usual today.” +
“Is it because we have a new member on our team?”
On Agatha’s comment, Siva only glanced at her and then let out a long sigh. He then started to head towards the stores at the side of the main road and began to buy things, even adding a Z80k worth expendable legged truck. And not only one, he really bought two of them.
Seeing those, the four could only follow his lead as they also prepared themselves for the adventure.
Then at one point, Hawkeye asked, “Why did you buy a portable expendable truck?”
Siva ignored the adorable expression and continued to buy supplies. But without glancing at her, he replied to her question with a straight answer, “They are for our pride. I don‘t want to experience the same shameful sight I‘ve had once before.”
Hawkeye and the two girls could only wonder while Siva recalled that one time where he was forced to ride on woods from a stone age cart filled with his goods.
“I don‘t want to feel the shame again.” He repeated the line that sounded like a mantra.
Ranked Missions
Fifty years ago, there was a war.
It was dubbed The War of the Braves.
In that war, the establishment of the new frontiers were started and thus it led to the current plotline where the players of RPG: Terroa must banish the aliens and free the world of their reigns.
In that war, where the Humans and the Terrans won back the current free territories, the Walled Cities, and the places where Humans and Terrans are living, young Aldrin Eclaire had once served as an apprentice knight.
Knights such as the late Sir Isaac Beowolf, had the backing of his title and his lineage that he was granted the privilege to train warriors as his apprentice. One of those lucky to have been personally picked by the great esteemed knight was Aldrin. During the war, though his training was incomplete, the rest of the legion where he belonged to was eradicated. Only him and Sir Beowolf was the sole survivors of the surprise attack. 2
As he opened his eyes from this unrealistic dream, he saw five faces, one at which he reached using his time woven hand just to touch the dried marks of battle.
Seventy year old Aldrin Eclaire, with a body eaten up by an incurable terminal disease, traced the scars on Siva’s face and made a contented smile as he opened his mouth and spoke the words, “How nostalgic.” with a trembling voice.
“Those scars are from fighting a Cleopa.”
Siva was shocked and amazed as he raised his head to look at his companions. Then he looked at their host, Andrea Eclaire, with doubtful eyes.
Andrea nodded with a weak smile and Siva held the frail hand and with a stern expression said, “You have a sharp eye there, sir.”
The old warrior laughed and used all his strength to grab on to the young hand in his hand.
“You, young lad, had eyes of a warrior. I can see my old master in you, he, alone at that time, charged into the ranks of the dreaded demons and killed a hundred of them and still made sure that I will go back alive to tell his tale. Oh…time surely passes by…”
“It does.” Siva agreed rather forcefully.
“But young warrior, surely, you didn‘t come here to hear of an old man‘s tale.”
“Actually…” Again, he looked up to check for their host’s reaction and upon seeing that she agreed, Siva let go of his restraints and told him straightly. “I came here to ask of your great ancestor, Christofer Eclaire.”
“Ah…” At that moment, the old man’s eyes became that of a strong willed person and the life in his eyes wandered throughout the corners of the room. And as he had confirmed that nobody else was inside except for them, he spoke again. “What do you want to ask?”
“About him and his work, Clemente‘s Demise.”
The old man’s face hardened as soon as he heard it and although Siva sensed that he was getting at some place, Andrea suddenly kneeled down and checked his grand father’s vitals.
“He‘s weak.” She told Siva. “I think that‘s enough for today. Let‘s have him rest.”
Siva stood up and could only let the grandchild take over but then as soon as he motioned to walk away, the old man’s hand suddenly gripped his left hand.
“Wait…” The old man forced a weak voice. “What do you want to ask me? What of that book?”
Steeling his resolve, Siva faced the man and spoke up in a solid tone.
“It‘s his message. I believe he left us a message.”
“Ah…” The moment he let go of that reaction, the old man’s face became that of happiness. Even Andrea who cared for him with all her heart was baffled by the sudden change of his grand father’s reactions. “What did you see? Tell me child.”
The old man bade for Siva to come closer, seeming to want him to whisper it to him.
At that, Siva kneeled back and approached his ear, then he whispered, “Find the Providence.” That made the old man smile.
Then he called for his grandchild. “Andrea.”
“Yes grandfather?”
“This man knows, lead him.”
Surprised, Andrea studied Siva’s appearance and her expression softened as soon as she saw the honest look on Siva’s eyes.
“It would seem that you can be trusted. Follow me.”
As he motioned for Siva and the company to follow, a nurse came and tended for the old man. Siva and the rest’s attention was now fixed on their host who looked a little more than thirty, a mother of two kids, and a wife of the city’s Vice Mayor.
In their house’s basement, in the dust covered table in the middle of the room, Andrea brought a candle and placed it on the table. She wiped off the dusts and Siva removed the books and forgotten plate and glass. +
It was then that a map of the surrounding landscape came to their sight.
‘We’re the first people.’
As soon as Siva sent the whisper through their communicator device, Volt and the rest looked at him and nodded, trying their best to hide the excitement in their chest.
Then as Andrea pointed at the door at which Agatha who was at the far back made sure to lock. After that, Andrea pointed at a mountain peak.
As soon as her finger made contact with the laid out map, a sound notification echoed on their party and a pop up window appeared on their visions. That in itself was the surprising part since the window that popped out suddenly on their visions is a [Mission Window].
Mission.
The difference between a quest and a mission wasn’t that much big but it was still a clear deviation.
Quests are literally a call for adventure.
It is activated when the user had tapped an event, or a detail in some place, or by a person, or something, directly connected or with regards to RPG: Terroa’s main storyline. Or if the player himself (or his party) had been employed by a certain important NPC that triggered a quest. It can take up to several days, weeks, or months before completion and they sometimes are those that needed one or more people to be completed.
Missions, however, are short term quests that has immediate need of results. The longest time a mission could go on is a week. That is, if it was really a long distance errand or if it was somewhere along the lines of an A or S-ranked mission.
Sometimes, low rank missions are considered high rank quests. Simply put, missions are the errands from an NPC, meaning, they only see the errand and its simplicity as the entirety and not the difficulty along the way. And when it was said difficulty, it means though the errand is a simple E-ranked mission where you have to deliver a letter to someone, considering that you had to cross oceans, desserts, forests full of monsters, spend personal money, or actually fight off a dragon, the mission difficulty in itself was entirely a joke. +
Even the rewards wasn’t worth it.
In the end, what missions are all about is the fact that its unpredictable nature —unlike Quests where if it says it’s an S-rank it is an S-rank, is the reward itself. You never know what you’ll get from a mission and if you put it in a different perspective, the loot you get along the way is the reward itself.
And so, looking at the small window that popped up in their visions, Siva and the rest could only hold their breaths in shock.
[Mission]
“An old man’s legacy” +
Rank “B” difficulty
Requirements: Eclaire Family’s trust.
Limit: 18 days
Will you accept?
(Yes?) — (No?)
As the window remained, Andrea began to pull her finger and spoke in a restrained tone.
“There is a cave in this place. Deep inside the cave is an altar. In the altar is a package. Retrieve it.”
“But…” Siva realized it was too late to retract his voice and so he had no choice but to continue. “I heard the old man say that you had to lead us.”
And that’s where he received a smack in the head.
“Stupid! Can‘t you see I‘m a mother of two kids! Or are your eyes just there to make you look human?”
Hearing the words, along with a surprised heart, the third emotion that swell on his chest at that moment was irritation. It’s because somehow, those words had reminded him of another person.
On the other hand, the sound of restrained laughs did not escape Siva’s ears. And when he raised his hurting head, there, Agatha and Hawkeye covering their mouths along with teary eyes while Samara and was talking to the wall and also covering her mouth. But the greatest blow to his pride was Volt who, with no restraint, had the time of his life laughing at one corner.
He was left with no choice but to pout and listen to Andrea.
“Do you get me? Retrieve the package and I will tell you what you needed to know.”
Siva was urged to ask why she won’t come but then he stopped himself before the first word came out. And so, they exited the room and was guided to the dining area where they had lunch before departing.
The words of goodbye was never spoken but before they left, they all agreed on the mission and carried their selves out towards the Southern Gate.
At the entrance, the view of the mountain Andrea had pointed at can be seen. It was one of the two peaks that entrapped the Walled City of Hagonoy, giving the water and the life for its people and of course, towards the users.
“How many days?” Hawkeye asked to no one but the person who answered her query was Siva.
“A week at most. Four at least.”
Volt put an elbow on his right shoulder. “And that‘s coming from experience, I bet.”
“No. Just my calculations.”
“Hahahaha…you‘re really weird you know that?”
“Funny,” Samara opened up her floating bag (a very expensive item for Mages. +100 inventory slots) and pulled a wand. “I really do feel an excitement different from the usual today.” +
“Is it because we have a new member on our team?”
On Agatha’s comment, Siva only glanced at her and then let out a long sigh. He then started to head towards the stores at the side of the main road and began to buy things, even adding a Z80k worth expendable legged truck. And not only one, he really bought two of them.
Seeing those, the four could only follow his lead as they also prepared themselves for the adventure.
Then at one point, Hawkeye asked, “Why did you buy a portable expendable truck?”
Siva ignored the adorable expression and continued to buy supplies. But without glancing at her, he replied to her question with a straight answer, “They are for our pride. I don‘t want to experience the same shameful sight I‘ve had once before.”
Hawkeye and the two girls could only wonder while Siva recalled that one time where he was forced to ride on woods from a stone age cart filled with his goods.
“I don‘t want to feel the shame again.” He repeated the line that sounded like a mantra.
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Update 25
That Dreaded Laugh
The first day was somewhat quiet. Though there are those experienced hunters on the road they chose to climb the peak, since they all looked young, their group had become a laughing stock.
Especially the guy with the cloak.
Since Siva doesn’t have a visible weapon in him, he immediately became the center of ridicule.
Somehow, it was surprising to learn that Hawkeye has a short temper with those kind of people. But before she could even sprout trouble for their group, Siva only had to look at those guys and smile. After that, they will be off to where they should be going in double pace, some even run scared not looking back.
This action made Volt and the rest wonder what his smile had and so for the rest of their journey until their second day, they were making Siva smile over and over again.
But alas, there was nothing abnormal with his smile and Siva could only whine at his noisy company.
Finally, monsters started to greet them. Siva knew instinctively that those monsters are not products of his ability and so he let them handle the monsters.
One shot on the vital parts, and the monsters who received Hawkeye’s arrows all lost their will to fight. A finishing blow came from the Sword Mage Volt who uses impact type magic, similar to Siva’s Air Shot.
Then there was the Witch Samara.
She only had two magical abilities in her arsenal, despite her Witch image. It’s because just like Volt who had the image of a swordsman, the two are Engineers who actually is similar to Siva. They use inventions to fight in the battlefield.
Volt’s magic was impact type, imbued on the sword and deals devastating damage. His armor was imbued by magic to increase movement speed and the defense was solely left to the material’s high grade.
Meanwhile, Samara’s magic are Float (from the rare magic list) and a talisman magic, Burn, a fire element damage type magic. But what she uses in fights are not magic since Float consumes 1 MNA per second, she had no room to use Burn to cause damage. After all, it was a weak tier 1 magic and she only uses it for when she was defending from attacks.
But what she uses in fights is a cannon.
Simply put, Volt specializes in melee weapons and armor engineering while Samara focused on ranged weapons engineering.
Siva was utterly surprised how she used the cannon to deal tremendous damage. Not only it was somewhere in the A-class weapon specs, but the damage output in itself was surprising. With only two shots, she can take care of a D-rank monster and turn it into ashes, literally.
I wonder how long I can defeat a D-rank now.
As Siva pondered in these thoughts, he only watched and observed. While Hawkeye was dealing irritatingly damaging vitally placed arrows, Samara was firing off white volleys of light that finished them off. And for those lucky enough to not get hit by Samara’s large two handed cannon, Volt was cutting those monsters with his surprisingly large sword a third his size.
His slices burned their skins like paper, leaving any monster who got in his way either dead or on their last breath to die.
Weakness? This group’s weakness is Agatha. She had Tier 3 healing magic and Tier 2 buff magic. And Siva knew instinctively that this group had first focused on improving Agatha’s Magic Abilities before starting the enhancements on their individual talents. Though in a side note, Samara’s five second delay and cartridge type weapon is a weakness itself while Volt’s enemy is fatigue and Hawkeye’s nemesis is distraction.
But upon seeing them fight, the fact that they have this unspoken team work formed a strong impression in Siva’s mind. Their coordination was superb, no, it was more than superb, it was splendid! Without so much as looking at each other or even uttering a word, the three of them can form a strong barrier that not only was very intimidating, it was also a solid wall that defends their queen, Agatha, very tightly.
Slowly, while fighting, they can expand that barrier and Siva was slowly feeling that he was getting a bit excited. He wanted to join the fight.
But then he realized, that’s the very thing he doesn’t want to know. The monsters that’s been appearing lately are just few low D and C-ranked monsters and he knew that even at his level, he can defeat them. But what if he gets out of control and summoned a horde of C-rank monsters? He knew, he saw, they get easily tired of fighting off six C-rank monsters. Yes they can defeat them after fifteen seconds but after that, they get tired.
Though they were far from being exhausted, but what if it’s a horde of them?
What he was afraid of most are seeing comrades dying in front of his eyes. So as much as he can help it, he was stopping himself from getting agitated and was doing his best to retrain the shaking of his muscles.
After all, even though he won’t say it, he was happy that he can share this adventure with them.
Even though it was against the rules.
Then on the third day, that’s where the monsters became more and more powerful. Though C-ranked monsters are known to only group a total of five, it still took them fifteen seconds to be taken out.
Just in case, Siva prepared the Ender on his back if any monster approached Agatha and his location. But thankfully, seventeen seconds are the furthest their team can handle the T-Rex Herons and the tri-horned Sigma.
“Are you guys tired?” Siva asked innocently.
“Well, we‘re just exercising.” Volt answered. “We haven‘t had an exercise for the past month and so it was also a good thing that we could exert our efforts here.”
“That‘s right.” Hawkeye stretched her fingers. “But what about you, Siva? You can‘t escape my eyes. I can clearly see that you are stopping yourself from joining the fray. Why aren‘t you, anyways?”
Siva paused before he gave an “Uhmm” sound that made it more obvious that she hit the nail in the head.
And so all he could do is scratch his cheek. “Well, I really am stopping myself. Because if I join in on your fun, it might ruin your formation and your coordination. And besides, you guys looked great seeing it from the sidelines.”
“I doubt it.” Samara replied with flat eyes.
“I‘ll be honest here,” Agatha interrupted raising her right hand. “I sometimes see Siva smiling and shaking while holding his sword’s handle.” Then she eyed him with an apologetic stare. “Sorry.”
SIGH. “Alright, I admit it. You see, what I‘m afraid of is pulling you guys down with my ability.”
“So what is that ability?” Volt asked.
“Yeah tell us so we can be prepared!” Agatha added.
“Well…”
Seeing his reluctance, Hawkeye moved up front and she put her hands behind as she prompted, “Well?”
And the final push came from Samara. “Come on.”
“Actually, my ability is made for soloists. I can call on hordes of monsters to fight with and they will not stop coming until I stop moving.”
There were silence after the speech.
Even the wind stopped blowing and joined in on the silence of their group.
The regular hunters they’ve been seeing since day 1 had all vanished. They were already alone in the area for the past hour and this silence made them realize that fact at the back of their minds. But then again, the large cause of their silence was actually Siva’s revelation of his secret ability.
“That‘s it?” Volt’s brows curled.
Siva was taken aback. “Yeah. That‘s it.”
Then Hawkeye started to walk and brushed off the words Siva just said. “I thought it was a Unique Skill that can call meteorites. But call monsters…”
Agatha and Samara followed Volt and Siva was left to ponder on their reactions.
“It can be dangerous you know.” He followed.
“Yeah, whatever, on the next fight, call the monsters so we can practice.”
Volt gave him a disappointed tone as he answered and Siva was tempted to sigh and smile as he replied to his challenge with a chuckling, “Heh. You asked for it.” while actually trying to hide the fact that he was pleased deep within his heart.
It was because he knew they were hiding the fact that they were shocked to hear of that ability. Of course they already realized, it was really a troublesome ability.
Especially if the user is able to call hordes of S-rank monsters or even worse, dragons.
And as if luck had faced their back against them, a group of five Herons were waiting for them up front while munching on the remains of unlucky hunters. A sight of blood and torn up limbs were on the bushes and roots of trees. So the reason why they never saw other hunters is because these guys had already ate them.
At the sight of them, Volt drew out his weapon.
“Say, is there some sort of restriction to that ability?”
“Yes there is.” Siva answered him firmly. “First, it only activates if I am agitated. Second, I can‘t control how many monsters I can call with this ability since it was an AOE type of ability.”
“How wide?” Samara asked and summoned two big cannons. “I mean, how wide is the AOE?”
“A hundred meter radius from me.”
Then Hawkeye pulled an arrow on her bow. “Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Well, the third restriction is that I can only call on monsters the same rank as me.”
Agatha pointed out. “Ah…so when you said your rank is low…”
“I deliberately set it that way. I am also aware of my limits so I am taking it all slow at the same time.”
“I see. So is there a fourth restriction?” Asked Volt.
“Yes, there is.” As Siva replied, he dematerialized the sword he’s been displaying and changed his gear to his first ever, the one he’s really used to using. He fixed the grip of his fingers and saw the bewildered look on the faces of his companions.
“That is…?”
Siva took a step forward and motioned to charge but leaned back first as he said, “The final restriction is that I am their only target once they are summoned. The good thing about this ability is that once I recognized something or someone as an enemy, his defenses will go down by 70%.”
Hearing those words, Volt and the others exchanged glances in puzzlement.
And so Agatha prompted, “Meaning?”
“It means that you guys can attack them while they are busy attacking me.”
And after he said that, he charged right into the pack of monsters with a smile. His muscles were shaking, his body was trembling in excitement, he was literally in a bliss and his mind was in ecstasy. His first victim died after three seconds. The second victim followed after a moment and in between them, there were two loud explosions followed by a wide spill of blood.
Their jaws all dropped seeing how Siva fought. He jumped abnormally high, clung on the eye of a monster and killed it before it could even scream in pain.
At that moment, another boom sound echoed and a T-Rex looking Heron fell down at which Siva followed with a killing blow in its eye.
Blood literally spilled over that human and within moments since he charged right in, all five monsters died and the lone standing victor was Siva, draped in bright crimson blood and was pulling out a sword from the monster’s eyes.
And then, Hawkeye spoke, “I know that stance…”
“Me too.”
“I‘ve seen it before too…”
“Yeah. That video in the internet, there was no doubt about it…the only thing missing is…”
Agatha shivered, Samara was dumbstruck and Volt looked at them wide eyed. And the moment he said his words, the sight up front resumed on the missing lyric that would complete the phrase they saw in the net. And as a comment, anyone who had seen that video could never forget what would happen next.
All of them said it.
““That dreaded laugh…””
That Dreaded Laugh
The first day was somewhat quiet. Though there are those experienced hunters on the road they chose to climb the peak, since they all looked young, their group had become a laughing stock.
Especially the guy with the cloak.
Since Siva doesn’t have a visible weapon in him, he immediately became the center of ridicule.
Somehow, it was surprising to learn that Hawkeye has a short temper with those kind of people. But before she could even sprout trouble for their group, Siva only had to look at those guys and smile. After that, they will be off to where they should be going in double pace, some even run scared not looking back.
This action made Volt and the rest wonder what his smile had and so for the rest of their journey until their second day, they were making Siva smile over and over again.
But alas, there was nothing abnormal with his smile and Siva could only whine at his noisy company.
Finally, monsters started to greet them. Siva knew instinctively that those monsters are not products of his ability and so he let them handle the monsters.
One shot on the vital parts, and the monsters who received Hawkeye’s arrows all lost their will to fight. A finishing blow came from the Sword Mage Volt who uses impact type magic, similar to Siva’s Air Shot.
Then there was the Witch Samara.
She only had two magical abilities in her arsenal, despite her Witch image. It’s because just like Volt who had the image of a swordsman, the two are Engineers who actually is similar to Siva. They use inventions to fight in the battlefield.
Volt’s magic was impact type, imbued on the sword and deals devastating damage. His armor was imbued by magic to increase movement speed and the defense was solely left to the material’s high grade.
Meanwhile, Samara’s magic are Float (from the rare magic list) and a talisman magic, Burn, a fire element damage type magic. But what she uses in fights are not magic since Float consumes 1 MNA per second, she had no room to use Burn to cause damage. After all, it was a weak tier 1 magic and she only uses it for when she was defending from attacks.
But what she uses in fights is a cannon.
Simply put, Volt specializes in melee weapons and armor engineering while Samara focused on ranged weapons engineering.
Siva was utterly surprised how she used the cannon to deal tremendous damage. Not only it was somewhere in the A-class weapon specs, but the damage output in itself was surprising. With only two shots, she can take care of a D-rank monster and turn it into ashes, literally.
I wonder how long I can defeat a D-rank now.
As Siva pondered in these thoughts, he only watched and observed. While Hawkeye was dealing irritatingly damaging vitally placed arrows, Samara was firing off white volleys of light that finished them off. And for those lucky enough to not get hit by Samara’s large two handed cannon, Volt was cutting those monsters with his surprisingly large sword a third his size.
His slices burned their skins like paper, leaving any monster who got in his way either dead or on their last breath to die.
Weakness? This group’s weakness is Agatha. She had Tier 3 healing magic and Tier 2 buff magic. And Siva knew instinctively that this group had first focused on improving Agatha’s Magic Abilities before starting the enhancements on their individual talents. Though in a side note, Samara’s five second delay and cartridge type weapon is a weakness itself while Volt’s enemy is fatigue and Hawkeye’s nemesis is distraction.
But upon seeing them fight, the fact that they have this unspoken team work formed a strong impression in Siva’s mind. Their coordination was superb, no, it was more than superb, it was splendid! Without so much as looking at each other or even uttering a word, the three of them can form a strong barrier that not only was very intimidating, it was also a solid wall that defends their queen, Agatha, very tightly.
Slowly, while fighting, they can expand that barrier and Siva was slowly feeling that he was getting a bit excited. He wanted to join the fight.
But then he realized, that’s the very thing he doesn’t want to know. The monsters that’s been appearing lately are just few low D and C-ranked monsters and he knew that even at his level, he can defeat them. But what if he gets out of control and summoned a horde of C-rank monsters? He knew, he saw, they get easily tired of fighting off six C-rank monsters. Yes they can defeat them after fifteen seconds but after that, they get tired.
Though they were far from being exhausted, but what if it’s a horde of them?
What he was afraid of most are seeing comrades dying in front of his eyes. So as much as he can help it, he was stopping himself from getting agitated and was doing his best to retrain the shaking of his muscles.
After all, even though he won’t say it, he was happy that he can share this adventure with them.
Even though it was against the rules.
Then on the third day, that’s where the monsters became more and more powerful. Though C-ranked monsters are known to only group a total of five, it still took them fifteen seconds to be taken out.
Just in case, Siva prepared the Ender on his back if any monster approached Agatha and his location. But thankfully, seventeen seconds are the furthest their team can handle the T-Rex Herons and the tri-horned Sigma.
“Are you guys tired?” Siva asked innocently.
“Well, we‘re just exercising.” Volt answered. “We haven‘t had an exercise for the past month and so it was also a good thing that we could exert our efforts here.”
“That‘s right.” Hawkeye stretched her fingers. “But what about you, Siva? You can‘t escape my eyes. I can clearly see that you are stopping yourself from joining the fray. Why aren‘t you, anyways?”
Siva paused before he gave an “Uhmm” sound that made it more obvious that she hit the nail in the head.
And so all he could do is scratch his cheek. “Well, I really am stopping myself. Because if I join in on your fun, it might ruin your formation and your coordination. And besides, you guys looked great seeing it from the sidelines.”
“I doubt it.” Samara replied with flat eyes.
“I‘ll be honest here,” Agatha interrupted raising her right hand. “I sometimes see Siva smiling and shaking while holding his sword’s handle.” Then she eyed him with an apologetic stare. “Sorry.”
SIGH. “Alright, I admit it. You see, what I‘m afraid of is pulling you guys down with my ability.”
“So what is that ability?” Volt asked.
“Yeah tell us so we can be prepared!” Agatha added.
“Well…”
Seeing his reluctance, Hawkeye moved up front and she put her hands behind as she prompted, “Well?”
And the final push came from Samara. “Come on.”
“Actually, my ability is made for soloists. I can call on hordes of monsters to fight with and they will not stop coming until I stop moving.”
There were silence after the speech.
Even the wind stopped blowing and joined in on the silence of their group.
The regular hunters they’ve been seeing since day 1 had all vanished. They were already alone in the area for the past hour and this silence made them realize that fact at the back of their minds. But then again, the large cause of their silence was actually Siva’s revelation of his secret ability.
“That‘s it?” Volt’s brows curled.
Siva was taken aback. “Yeah. That‘s it.”
Then Hawkeye started to walk and brushed off the words Siva just said. “I thought it was a Unique Skill that can call meteorites. But call monsters…”
Agatha and Samara followed Volt and Siva was left to ponder on their reactions.
“It can be dangerous you know.” He followed.
“Yeah, whatever, on the next fight, call the monsters so we can practice.”
Volt gave him a disappointed tone as he answered and Siva was tempted to sigh and smile as he replied to his challenge with a chuckling, “Heh. You asked for it.” while actually trying to hide the fact that he was pleased deep within his heart.
It was because he knew they were hiding the fact that they were shocked to hear of that ability. Of course they already realized, it was really a troublesome ability.
Especially if the user is able to call hordes of S-rank monsters or even worse, dragons.
And as if luck had faced their back against them, a group of five Herons were waiting for them up front while munching on the remains of unlucky hunters. A sight of blood and torn up limbs were on the bushes and roots of trees. So the reason why they never saw other hunters is because these guys had already ate them.
At the sight of them, Volt drew out his weapon.
“Say, is there some sort of restriction to that ability?”
“Yes there is.” Siva answered him firmly. “First, it only activates if I am agitated. Second, I can‘t control how many monsters I can call with this ability since it was an AOE type of ability.”
“How wide?” Samara asked and summoned two big cannons. “I mean, how wide is the AOE?”
“A hundred meter radius from me.”
Then Hawkeye pulled an arrow on her bow. “Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Well, the third restriction is that I can only call on monsters the same rank as me.”
Agatha pointed out. “Ah…so when you said your rank is low…”
“I deliberately set it that way. I am also aware of my limits so I am taking it all slow at the same time.”
“I see. So is there a fourth restriction?” Asked Volt.
“Yes, there is.” As Siva replied, he dematerialized the sword he’s been displaying and changed his gear to his first ever, the one he’s really used to using. He fixed the grip of his fingers and saw the bewildered look on the faces of his companions.
“That is…?”
Siva took a step forward and motioned to charge but leaned back first as he said, “The final restriction is that I am their only target once they are summoned. The good thing about this ability is that once I recognized something or someone as an enemy, his defenses will go down by 70%.”
Hearing those words, Volt and the others exchanged glances in puzzlement.
And so Agatha prompted, “Meaning?”
“It means that you guys can attack them while they are busy attacking me.”
And after he said that, he charged right into the pack of monsters with a smile. His muscles were shaking, his body was trembling in excitement, he was literally in a bliss and his mind was in ecstasy. His first victim died after three seconds. The second victim followed after a moment and in between them, there were two loud explosions followed by a wide spill of blood.
Their jaws all dropped seeing how Siva fought. He jumped abnormally high, clung on the eye of a monster and killed it before it could even scream in pain.
At that moment, another boom sound echoed and a T-Rex looking Heron fell down at which Siva followed with a killing blow in its eye.
Blood literally spilled over that human and within moments since he charged right in, all five monsters died and the lone standing victor was Siva, draped in bright crimson blood and was pulling out a sword from the monster’s eyes.
And then, Hawkeye spoke, “I know that stance…”
“Me too.”
“I‘ve seen it before too…”
“Yeah. That video in the internet, there was no doubt about it…the only thing missing is…”
Agatha shivered, Samara was dumbstruck and Volt looked at them wide eyed. And the moment he said his words, the sight up front resumed on the missing lyric that would complete the phrase they saw in the net. And as a comment, anyone who had seen that video could never forget what would happen next.
All of them said it.
““That dreaded laugh…””
- 91
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Update 26
Best Time of their Careers
“Hahahahahahaha…”
Right after that, a group of the monsters belonging on the C-rank food chain came from all directions.
Four Landsharks came from the east and a group of Sigmas also came from the west. And yet, he continued to laugh like some crazy guy.
That laugh echoed on all directions, sounding as if he was lost in some distant place in some distant time.
All Siva thought about is quenching his thirst. He’s been hungry, very hungry, excited, and was actually in the verge of losing himself if he doesn’t kill some. The wolf’s blood in him was awaken and he knew that it will devour him too one way or another so at least, right now, he could lose himself to that feeling.
Dissatisfaction had been building in his chest.
The anger, frustration, sadness, hate, realization, his loneliness, his powerlessness, his worries…it all came as a trembling feeling that shook his entire body. He knew that if he doesn’t let go of all these feelings, it will eat him alive along with the little sanity he had left in his body.
He miss his brother. He was worried. He was in the verge of losing his grip to the world and his goal that he was screaming deep inside.
Thankfully, there was this world.
RPG: Terroa gave him the opportunity to let go of all the negative feelings in his chest.
“Come on!”
The hungry monsters attacked and Siva clapped his hands. An air field surrounded him and the first five attackers froze in place as their brains received the pure close range impact of direct air pressure.
Their eyes rolled up, dried of blood, and they all collapsed on the ground with their tongues protruding out of their mouths.
Even Siva was surprised how much his technological skill improved. Not only its damage output doubled, it also reduced three seconds of cool down time. That, in itself, was the greatest news of all. And with seventeen seconds cool down time, his number of usage in two minutes had increased along with the additional power of his already devastating close range impact attack.
Again, another laugh got out of his mouth and he looked like some victorious general surrounded by the victims of his martial arts.
—No.
This isn’t worthy of being called martial Arts.
If Volt had to put it into words, this was just pure outlet of what could only be described as violence.
“Ten seconds…”
“What?” Volt turned his head to Agatha who then repeated the words.
“He killed ten monsters in ten seconds.”
Wide eyed, Volt brought back his gaze on the scene where Siva was laughing while the monsters all paused and waited for him to finish.
Why the monsters did not attack, Volt could actually understand why. After such a feat, even monsters with only their instincts to keep them alive felt the danger of such a man becoming their enemy. Monsters who had realized that would have run away but these monsters, for some unknown reason, weren’t able to.
Some, those from the outskirts of their circle, was on the verge of turning their backs but somehow, they all always turn around and go back.
At that moment, Volt remembered what Siva said.
They will only attack me.
Instinctively, he realized that there are more to those words than just its literal meaning.
“That sick bastard…” He exclaimed with a smile.
“What?! What is it?” Samara bellowed and shook his shoulder to make Volt face them. “What did you realize? Tell us!”
Is she scared?
This was clearly seen in her anxious expression.
He knew, as someone who had been with them all these time, the always composed Samara who had so much self-esteem born from her trust to her cannons, was scared right now.
It was a rare feat even for him who knew that his knees were shaking. This fight wasn’t just some show, it was a depiction of what real fighters can do in the battlefield. Those born to fight, those who was gifted with the real sense of battle in their blood, those who longed the excitement of battlefield can only release the sleeping beast inside themselves in the battlefield.
This is the place for them.
And they all knew, he knew —No. He always felt it before, that man who refused to break down despite the excruciating pain of a broken leg twisted by a broken leg support. He knew from first glance that that person can endure hardship and pain to a level unimaginable to those who grew up in comfort.
Is this it? Is this his true colors?
As he pondered on this thought, Volt was worried that his sister would be seeing something awful and be scared out of her wits but when he saw her expression, she was smiling.
Agatha, too, was smiling.
And when he dragged his eyes to Samara, what he thought was a scared reaction was a mistake.
Samara was shaking, her body was trembling and she was holding the grip of her cannons tightly. Then he put his gaze back on the fight, he watched as Siva kick a monster in the face along with a loud boom and that monster fell down dead on the ground.
A perfect clean kill.
—No, that’s not it. That’s not the only thing there.
Hawkeye who knew what it was clasped her hands in front of her chest.
Yes, that’s right.
Her eyes were sharp for details, that’s the redeeming factor of all archers. That one kick, even with a weaker attack, could actually kill the monster. It was aimed right on the monster’s ear lobe. And since Siva’s ability centered on Air Pressure, the direct feed of air pressure to the ear would destroy its eardrums, sending a shock on the brain strong enough to numb it and freeze the blood from flowing down.
It was a simple yet very deadly principle and the one person who used such deadly technique as his weapon could only be called a genius.
He was a genius of fighting.
Fearless. Deadly. Strong. Powerful. What else?
As though taken by a wind, Hawkeye suddenly let go of an arrow towards a monster and it was hit directly in the right eye that made it growl in pain.
That blinded monster hit another monster and a third one was literally out balanced by the first’s wild head sway to minimize the pain. Volt looked at his sister and she shook her head as if denying a sin she committed.
“I‘m sorry.” She exclaimed. “I just felt like doing it.”
And Volt, who had played this game longer than them realized this, what Hawkeye did was a natural reflex born from the urge to join the fight.
Siva’s fight had such charisma to make others want to join in too. No. The right word for it was fun. Not only watching him fight was entertaining, it also has a certain charm to it that makes the viewer want to join on his brawl. Yes. It was this feeling. That feeling when you first stepped into the alternate world that is Virtual Reality. The feeling of being inside a game where you can actually use your body and not just an avatar. That feeling of being free of the reigns that bind you to the world of reality where there are only restraints to your freedom.
Those are the restraints created by rules. Rules that’s there to regulate the world you’re living in exchange, an important part of a person was pulled out of his soul.
And that important part is relived in Virtual Reality.
It was freedom.
Right now, Siva was enjoying the real essence of VR gaming. He wasn’t actually a player who focused on powerful kinds of moves and ability, resulting to quick kills instant wins.
Actually, Air Pressure skills are common but what made his fight using such a common ability a real sight is the way he used it. Not everyone can use it the same way he’s using it. Players were all thinking of ending a fight as quickly as possible so they focus on improving their weapons that it all became so powerful, enhancing it further became more difficult.
He should know, he was experiencing that.
Powerful weapons deal high damage. And with high damage output, paired with the user’s ability, the flesh of anything they hit will be destroyed and the quality of their hunt drops drastically.
In short, the more a person pursues strong weapons, the more he actually becomes weak. But, in Siva’s case who solely relied on his body’s real limits, ignoring the 40% less pain feature, exhaustion, the mental fatigue, and also dismissing the fact that he’s fighting hordes of scary monsters, he used the Virtual Reality environment to its fullest and used his own athleticism to amplify his weapon‘s ability.
—No.
He doesn’t have a weapon, his weapon is the wind pressure itself and those knuckles are just there as the protection of his hands.
…or maybe just display?
Is that really it?
But basically, that knuckle equipment is the medium for Siva to be able to use the technological skill.
Without knowing it, Volt had already drew out his sword. And when he realized that he was already on the verge of jumping in to join the fray, he stopped himself deliberately and clicked his tongue.
“The hell…”
But then beside him, Samara raised her right cannon and pulled the trigger. Set in maximum output, a shot worth of two normal shots hit an attacking Landshark directly on its belly. The monster died but for the next ten seconds, he can’t use his right cannon.
And so she lifted her left cannon and fired off.
BOOM!
Another Landshark was hit in the head and it died, falling beheaded with a thud.
“Come on!” She yelled and with a smile as she thrust herself forward, as she changed her equipment to her initial primary equipment, Guns.
Behind her, Hawkeye followed suit and used her best abilities to fire off arrows with maximum accuracy and deadly precision. The monsters got blinded, their eyes suddenly were filled with life as if waking up from a dream and chased after their new targets.
“I see…” Volt saw this and realized. “Siva‘s ability can put monsters into a trans and only extreme pain can wake them up from that dream.”
That bastard have such crazy ability…
And Volt asked himself, when was the last time he ever felt enjoying monster hunt? Lately, it’s been like a repeated killing. Showcasing of powerful equipments and inventing more powerful gears.
But he actually disregarded his own abilities and had been relying solely on the weapon.
That’s why we can’t hunt multiple monsters at the same time. It’s because we’re not used on that situation on actually exerting effort. And also, since when did I called fighting exercise?
“Hahahaha…”
Suddenly hearing Volt laugh made the three girls look at him puzzled. He then got passed through and put the first strike on a monster. The monster endured and woke up from his dream. Another monster was hit with its tusks and woke up, saw Volt, and charged right on with his three tusks.
That one head-on charge showcased the Sigma’s agility and power and Volt was left with no choice but to shield himself using his sword as he got blown off.
“Shit…it hurts!”
Volt was thrown back ten meters and landed on his behind. But the pain only lasted for a second because a bluish white light surrounded him and his injuries were all healed before they even became painful.
“As long as I am around, I won’t let anyone die.”
The vindication of a Healer.
Hearing those reliable words made Volt smile and the two other girls also felt the resolve on Agatha’s eyes as she started to use another ability. A buff magic.
All party members had a boost of agility for the next five minutes. And at that moment, their attention drew from her to the enemies up front.
Volt stood up and readied his pose.
“Let‘s go!”
To his command, the other combat girls had a smile in their lips as they fought alongside Siva who was still flawlessly clean, though drenched in blood, and was in the middle of countless dead monsters.
And while the fight lasted for six hours, not a single moment was boring, more like, it was the most exciting six hours of their gaming career.
Best Time of their Careers
“Hahahahahahaha…”
Right after that, a group of the monsters belonging on the C-rank food chain came from all directions.
Four Landsharks came from the east and a group of Sigmas also came from the west. And yet, he continued to laugh like some crazy guy.
That laugh echoed on all directions, sounding as if he was lost in some distant place in some distant time.
All Siva thought about is quenching his thirst. He’s been hungry, very hungry, excited, and was actually in the verge of losing himself if he doesn’t kill some. The wolf’s blood in him was awaken and he knew that it will devour him too one way or another so at least, right now, he could lose himself to that feeling.
Dissatisfaction had been building in his chest.
The anger, frustration, sadness, hate, realization, his loneliness, his powerlessness, his worries…it all came as a trembling feeling that shook his entire body. He knew that if he doesn’t let go of all these feelings, it will eat him alive along with the little sanity he had left in his body.
He miss his brother. He was worried. He was in the verge of losing his grip to the world and his goal that he was screaming deep inside.
Thankfully, there was this world.
RPG: Terroa gave him the opportunity to let go of all the negative feelings in his chest.
“Come on!”
The hungry monsters attacked and Siva clapped his hands. An air field surrounded him and the first five attackers froze in place as their brains received the pure close range impact of direct air pressure.
Their eyes rolled up, dried of blood, and they all collapsed on the ground with their tongues protruding out of their mouths.
Even Siva was surprised how much his technological skill improved. Not only its damage output doubled, it also reduced three seconds of cool down time. That, in itself, was the greatest news of all. And with seventeen seconds cool down time, his number of usage in two minutes had increased along with the additional power of his already devastating close range impact attack.
Again, another laugh got out of his mouth and he looked like some victorious general surrounded by the victims of his martial arts.
—No.
This isn’t worthy of being called martial Arts.
If Volt had to put it into words, this was just pure outlet of what could only be described as violence.
“Ten seconds…”
“What?” Volt turned his head to Agatha who then repeated the words.
“He killed ten monsters in ten seconds.”
Wide eyed, Volt brought back his gaze on the scene where Siva was laughing while the monsters all paused and waited for him to finish.
Why the monsters did not attack, Volt could actually understand why. After such a feat, even monsters with only their instincts to keep them alive felt the danger of such a man becoming their enemy. Monsters who had realized that would have run away but these monsters, for some unknown reason, weren’t able to.
Some, those from the outskirts of their circle, was on the verge of turning their backs but somehow, they all always turn around and go back.
At that moment, Volt remembered what Siva said.
They will only attack me.
Instinctively, he realized that there are more to those words than just its literal meaning.
“That sick bastard…” He exclaimed with a smile.
“What?! What is it?” Samara bellowed and shook his shoulder to make Volt face them. “What did you realize? Tell us!”
Is she scared?
This was clearly seen in her anxious expression.
He knew, as someone who had been with them all these time, the always composed Samara who had so much self-esteem born from her trust to her cannons, was scared right now.
It was a rare feat even for him who knew that his knees were shaking. This fight wasn’t just some show, it was a depiction of what real fighters can do in the battlefield. Those born to fight, those who was gifted with the real sense of battle in their blood, those who longed the excitement of battlefield can only release the sleeping beast inside themselves in the battlefield.
This is the place for them.
And they all knew, he knew —No. He always felt it before, that man who refused to break down despite the excruciating pain of a broken leg twisted by a broken leg support. He knew from first glance that that person can endure hardship and pain to a level unimaginable to those who grew up in comfort.
Is this it? Is this his true colors?
As he pondered on this thought, Volt was worried that his sister would be seeing something awful and be scared out of her wits but when he saw her expression, she was smiling.
Agatha, too, was smiling.
And when he dragged his eyes to Samara, what he thought was a scared reaction was a mistake.
Samara was shaking, her body was trembling and she was holding the grip of her cannons tightly. Then he put his gaze back on the fight, he watched as Siva kick a monster in the face along with a loud boom and that monster fell down dead on the ground.
A perfect clean kill.
—No, that’s not it. That’s not the only thing there.
Hawkeye who knew what it was clasped her hands in front of her chest.
Yes, that’s right.
Her eyes were sharp for details, that’s the redeeming factor of all archers. That one kick, even with a weaker attack, could actually kill the monster. It was aimed right on the monster’s ear lobe. And since Siva’s ability centered on Air Pressure, the direct feed of air pressure to the ear would destroy its eardrums, sending a shock on the brain strong enough to numb it and freeze the blood from flowing down.
It was a simple yet very deadly principle and the one person who used such deadly technique as his weapon could only be called a genius.
He was a genius of fighting.
Fearless. Deadly. Strong. Powerful. What else?
As though taken by a wind, Hawkeye suddenly let go of an arrow towards a monster and it was hit directly in the right eye that made it growl in pain.
That blinded monster hit another monster and a third one was literally out balanced by the first’s wild head sway to minimize the pain. Volt looked at his sister and she shook her head as if denying a sin she committed.
“I‘m sorry.” She exclaimed. “I just felt like doing it.”
And Volt, who had played this game longer than them realized this, what Hawkeye did was a natural reflex born from the urge to join the fight.
Siva’s fight had such charisma to make others want to join in too. No. The right word for it was fun. Not only watching him fight was entertaining, it also has a certain charm to it that makes the viewer want to join on his brawl. Yes. It was this feeling. That feeling when you first stepped into the alternate world that is Virtual Reality. The feeling of being inside a game where you can actually use your body and not just an avatar. That feeling of being free of the reigns that bind you to the world of reality where there are only restraints to your freedom.
Those are the restraints created by rules. Rules that’s there to regulate the world you’re living in exchange, an important part of a person was pulled out of his soul.
And that important part is relived in Virtual Reality.
It was freedom.
Right now, Siva was enjoying the real essence of VR gaming. He wasn’t actually a player who focused on powerful kinds of moves and ability, resulting to quick kills instant wins.
Actually, Air Pressure skills are common but what made his fight using such a common ability a real sight is the way he used it. Not everyone can use it the same way he’s using it. Players were all thinking of ending a fight as quickly as possible so they focus on improving their weapons that it all became so powerful, enhancing it further became more difficult.
He should know, he was experiencing that.
Powerful weapons deal high damage. And with high damage output, paired with the user’s ability, the flesh of anything they hit will be destroyed and the quality of their hunt drops drastically.
In short, the more a person pursues strong weapons, the more he actually becomes weak. But, in Siva’s case who solely relied on his body’s real limits, ignoring the 40% less pain feature, exhaustion, the mental fatigue, and also dismissing the fact that he’s fighting hordes of scary monsters, he used the Virtual Reality environment to its fullest and used his own athleticism to amplify his weapon‘s ability.
—No.
He doesn’t have a weapon, his weapon is the wind pressure itself and those knuckles are just there as the protection of his hands.
…or maybe just display?
Is that really it?
But basically, that knuckle equipment is the medium for Siva to be able to use the technological skill.
Without knowing it, Volt had already drew out his sword. And when he realized that he was already on the verge of jumping in to join the fray, he stopped himself deliberately and clicked his tongue.
“The hell…”
But then beside him, Samara raised her right cannon and pulled the trigger. Set in maximum output, a shot worth of two normal shots hit an attacking Landshark directly on its belly. The monster died but for the next ten seconds, he can’t use his right cannon.
And so she lifted her left cannon and fired off.
BOOM!
Another Landshark was hit in the head and it died, falling beheaded with a thud.
“Come on!” She yelled and with a smile as she thrust herself forward, as she changed her equipment to her initial primary equipment, Guns.
Behind her, Hawkeye followed suit and used her best abilities to fire off arrows with maximum accuracy and deadly precision. The monsters got blinded, their eyes suddenly were filled with life as if waking up from a dream and chased after their new targets.
“I see…” Volt saw this and realized. “Siva‘s ability can put monsters into a trans and only extreme pain can wake them up from that dream.”
That bastard have such crazy ability…
And Volt asked himself, when was the last time he ever felt enjoying monster hunt? Lately, it’s been like a repeated killing. Showcasing of powerful equipments and inventing more powerful gears.
But he actually disregarded his own abilities and had been relying solely on the weapon.
That’s why we can’t hunt multiple monsters at the same time. It’s because we’re not used on that situation on actually exerting effort. And also, since when did I called fighting exercise?
“Hahahaha…”
Suddenly hearing Volt laugh made the three girls look at him puzzled. He then got passed through and put the first strike on a monster. The monster endured and woke up from his dream. Another monster was hit with its tusks and woke up, saw Volt, and charged right on with his three tusks.
That one head-on charge showcased the Sigma’s agility and power and Volt was left with no choice but to shield himself using his sword as he got blown off.
“Shit…it hurts!”
Volt was thrown back ten meters and landed on his behind. But the pain only lasted for a second because a bluish white light surrounded him and his injuries were all healed before they even became painful.
“As long as I am around, I won’t let anyone die.”
The vindication of a Healer.
Hearing those reliable words made Volt smile and the two other girls also felt the resolve on Agatha’s eyes as she started to use another ability. A buff magic.
All party members had a boost of agility for the next five minutes. And at that moment, their attention drew from her to the enemies up front.
Volt stood up and readied his pose.
“Let‘s go!”
To his command, the other combat girls had a smile in their lips as they fought alongside Siva who was still flawlessly clean, though drenched in blood, and was in the middle of countless dead monsters.
And while the fight lasted for six hours, not a single moment was boring, more like, it was the most exciting six hours of their gaming career.
- 91
- 16
- 8
Update 27
That’s Not A Monster
The next day until their fifth were full of struggles and it was here that Siva had made the biggest blunder of his career. He was now officially a B-rank Monster Hunter and also with it was the fact that it made their life along the mountains not only difficult, they’re already in the verge of quitting the mission.
Yesterday, they were having fun that they saw two large monsters and killed it. The finishing blows even went to be Siva’s privilege.
Now, he was flat eyed and regretting every bit of it.
But what can he do? What’s done is done. So instead of moping for it, he just had to face forward and move on since he doesn‘t have time to spare.
Apparently, the area near the top of the mountain was a place for B-ranked monsters. They were nesting there and for some good reason, they are all attracted to the smell of food coming their way. It was not even a surprise to learn that within this large area, only a few groups of people would actually dare go.
That’s because the monsters here are all B-ranked ones and only they are big, they’re also very vicious and needed careful attention to be able to defeat.
How they were able to only meet two of them on Siva’s agitated state? It could also be called luck. 2
When they finally reached the peak, it seemed that all worries and hardships, including his blunder and all their fatigue vanished from the sight of the view. There were the green fields, the forests, a river that was like a snake cutting the land towards the horizon, the Walled City of Hagonoy that seemed so small it was like a rock that was formed around a wall, and the view of the path they took, all of his exhaustion seem to vanish under nature‘s beautiful master piece.
Green overlapped with blue and brown. The land in the far side below hid the forests and plains, with the seemingly ocean like size of Yellow Brick Lake a small speck of water piece.
The river that connected the lake to the city was also an enormous view when seen from that side but from up here, it seemed just like a thread.
“Beautiful.” Beside Siva, Hawkeye commented.
Beside her was Samara and Agatha, taking pictures while Volt was busy doing mapping and.
At that point, Agatha took out four floating balls and it floated around behind her as if it was alive.
“What are those?” Siva asked her.
“Nanobots or most commonly known as Camera Balls.”
“For?”
“For taking videos and picture and also to record the mapped area that Volt is taking right now.”
Siva glanced at Volt and he was manipulating some sort of hologram panel. After a few moments, six small devices just like the ones around Agatha arrived and it joined Agatha’s palm sized nanobots.
At that moment, laser lights came and it became a map of the area in bluish 3D lines, hovering in front of them like a military tactical map.
Siva was amazed at the sight of it.
He never knew that such equipment existed inside the game. And when he asked how much those devices cost, he got the mind ruining answer, “Z20M each.”
And ever since then, he only watched and swallowed every question he wanted to asked. Just how much do they really earn for the past how many years doing their blog and hired adventurers job?
He could only guess. +
Eventually, he got the explanation from Samara.
“These equipments are sponsored by our clients. One Nanobot, one client. We’ve been doing our job for the last two years inside the game. We already had lost ten nanobots due to surprise monster attacks and so we learned to only use them when in a clearing.”
“I see.” With sweat forming on his temples, Siva nod and accepts the fact that money making was a simple feat on these guys. Maybe I could do that too?
“The total area is one square kilometer.” Volt spoke up and he manipulated the 3D map. “There is a large lake over there but there is no cave around here.”
“But this is the top of the mountain right?”
Siva looked around on Agatha’s words and even him can see that there were already no place to climb up. It really is the top of the mountain.
The green fields, the bonsai trees, the brownish and green land was all there is around them.
Even if he had to say that the trees not too far away from them were entrance to the forest, he knew that on either side of this area, there would only be a cliff or the way down.
Then were we tricked?
—No.
A mission from an NPC is an absolute rule. Inside the game, there is no NPC that would lie when giving out a mission or a quest. Given as it may that a mission difficulty is a joke on its own, but a mission is still a mission. It was not designed to be a lie nor to trick the players into their own death.
Not unless…
As these thoughts entered his mind, a loud roar came to break the tranquil silence of the mountain top.
The cold wind became warm, the trees not too far away swayed and their leaves left a sound that bade an ominous feeling. That one loud roar changed their silent rest and they became aware that it was not just a normal monster.
“S-rank?” Siva asked and he held his fists that was already wearing Cassius Clay.
“I‘m not sure.” Volt answered and the five of them went back to back with each other.
The strong wind came shaking the trees more. The hot air surrounded them like a hurricane, a loud sound that came like a roar came down from the east side.
The roar became louder, seeming to close in on them from the grey cloud sky.
At this moment, Siva’s eyes weren’t joking when he saw a silhouette of a large winged monster coming down at their direction. And then, as a reflex, he yelled out to dodge and the five of them scattered as the large shadow crashed where they stood.
The ear deafening explosion created clouds of dust and the ground shook wildly.
But when Siva raised his head, what he saw was just enough to put his nightmares to shame. Dark skin, gold yellow eyes, two whiskers, clawed wings that span at least seventy to eighty meters, a body that looked like a malamute but with a toughed up physique and vicious looking appearance, its bright golden eyes glaring at them, a low sounding growl coming from its direction, like a mother cat’s growl when you’re touching her babies, only louder and more terrifyingly sounding from around twenty meters away… +
He was sure now, this isn’t a monster.
This is a dragon.
All his hairs stood, gooseflesh crawled from his legs to his nape, sending a chill down to his spine telling him to run away.
And at that short pause, it roared and the dust clouds vanished from the surroundings, revealing the creature in the middle of the crater he made a few moments ago.
“Oh no…” Siva looked at Hawkeye who was caving in on where she landed after she dodged. She was the nearest to him so he heard her voice that sounded really scared.
He looked around and saw Agatha’s frozen state from his right while Samara from behind the dragon nodded at him and pointed at the direction where they came from.
She recovered fast, that was admirable.
But where’s Volt?
As his eyes wandered more, Siva heard Hawkeye’s scream from his left side.
“Kuya!”
Siva followed her gaze and saw Volt at the dragon’s tail, pressed down by its sheer weight and struggling.
The dragon leaned back and saw him, he froze there and the dragon raised his spiked tail and acted as if he was about to finish Volt.
“No!”
Siva screamed and dashed forward.
He used air jump to boost his momentum and his own agility to close the gap in two seconds. But the tail was faster and he knew he won’t make it. But then two pillars of bluish white light came from behind and hit the tail, the dragon was hurt that it stood up. It glared on its attacker and Samara immediately activated her Float magic to escape, stepping back thirty meters in just four easy steps.
“Kuya!” Hawkeye screamed and Volt jumped away towards Agatha who then healed him using contact healing magic, First Aid. It was a tier 2 magic using less MNA and heals almost as much as the 10MNA costing healing magic. +
“Shit! I thought I was going to die!” Volt held his chest as he was helped by Agatha to stand up. “Thanks Agatha.”
“It‘s alright. But more importantly, we have to get out of here. That‘s a Forest Dragon!”
“Yeah…”
The two was around fifty meters away from Siva but instead of slowing down or stopping, he punched the dragon on its body, the highest he can jump, and it was now glaring at him with angry eyes.
“Go!” He screamed on the party voice chat over the small ear set of the communicator. “I‘ll buy you guys some time! Go! Get away!”
Then he punched again as he used another Air Jump to hit the dragon’s chest. Its bearing was like that of a proud lion. When it reacted to Samara’s attack, its pose was that of an angered wild beast. But the most vexing thing it did wasn’t to attack back but instead, it studied his attacker, just like what it’s doing right now.
The dragon only roared as a retaliation to Siva but it was still enough to knock him back 10 meters.
“Siva!” Screamed Agatha but Siva only rebuked her.
“Don‘t just stand there! Go!”
As he screamed, the dragon’s attention was now solely focused on him and it was here that it flapped its wings as if acknowledging that fact.
“We won‘t leave you here!” Yelled Hawkeye as she let go of four arrows almost simultaneously. “You‘ll die if we leave you here!”
“I have another ability. I can escape from here! Just go!” On Siva’s words, Volt pulled Agatha and his sister to the opposite direction. Volt’s and Siva’s eyes met, he nodded to him, and Volt curled his brows as he pursed his lips while pulling them away.
“But Kuya!”
“Stop it!” Volt’s voice sounded scolding. His face is firm, his grip was tight. Hawkeye had never seen this side of her brother before, even in real life when he’s scolding her for her mistakes. “This isn’t something to be arguing about.” +
She wanted to say, this is just a game.
But when she looked back on Siva’s direction, as he was about to come face to face with a dragon, his eyes fierce, his expression stern, she felt that something was not right.
And it was here that she remembered Siva‘s —Rex’s sad face when she heard that story. 1
For his brother…
For him, this world is not just a game, everything he did here concerned his brother’s life. His life.
Even so.
She argued to herself.
What’s wrong about fighting a dragon? Yes it may hurt, but that’s just how far it could go, right? So why are we retreating on such a good game and all? Such loss for an experience…
Unable to process the reason why, Hawkeye pulled her arm that made Agatha and Volt stop.
“This is just a game!” She screamed. “Let‘s go and fight. If we die, we can just start over again!”
“Stop it!” Volt rebuked. “I said this is not something to be arguing about.”
“But we can defeat that monster if we…”
“No we can‘t!” Volt yelled and Hawkeye fell silent as she met his gaze. “We can‘t even defeat an S-rank monster without exerting full effort and almost dying, to the point that even Agatha had to join the fight. How can you even say that we can defeat a dragon?”
Hawkeye was speechless. And it was at that moment that Samara landed, with her cannons floating casually beside her, and spoke up between her breaths.
“I think I know where the cave is!” At that, Agatha, Volt and Hawkeye waited for her to speak up as her expression changed from urgent to anxious. “But we’ll have to rely on Siva‘s help to get there.”
“Why?” Agatha asked.
“It‘s hidden between those clouds. There was a small floating island in there. I just happen to see some weird looking vines going up so I landed on that realization.”
“And?” Volt prompted.
“And the dragon made it its nest. We can‘t get there without a distraction.”
Hawkeye was still silent but she realized why they had to go on Siva’s command. In his mind, he wanted to complete the mission, that’s why he had to go and be the distraction so that they can find the cave.
And now that they had a clue to where it is, all the more he can’t leave his fight with the dragon.
But then again, if he’s doing it for his brother, if he dies…
“What about Siva?” Hawkeye spoke. “We can‘t just leave him alone to fight that monster! He will die!”
“No he won‘t!” Samara answered her.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because before I left there, I saw how his attacks were hurting the monster.”
At that, Hawkeye looked at her brother. “Ah!”
“You get it now?” Volt smiled and she followed.
“What? What are you talking about?” Agatha was left dumbstruck, unable to follow their conversation.
Then, Volt looked back at the direction of their fight with a look that spoke of an unspoken sentence. And he opened his mouth, saying, “He had this ability to lower the enemy‘s defenses. So no matter how much strong a monster is…”
“He can always bring it down to its knees.”
Volt look at his sister and smiled. Samara nodded as their eyes met and she pulled Agatha with her and flew.
“Wait, wait! Where are we going?” Agatha clung on to her tightly as she wasn’t affected by Samara’s Float.
“Heal him.” Samara told her. “If my observations are correct, he may be able to lower the enemy‘s defenses but their attack’s damage is still normal.”
At that, Agatha pursed her lips. She could only hope that Siva could last. Healing Magic can regenerate HP, reduces pain, and heal wounds, but it can’t take away fatigue during the fight. And that’s what actually wears down Volt and the others. What more is a Hyper Melee combatant like Siva?
She could only imagine how it was, thus, she could only purse her lips and hope he’s okay.
That’s Not A Monster
The next day until their fifth were full of struggles and it was here that Siva had made the biggest blunder of his career. He was now officially a B-rank Monster Hunter and also with it was the fact that it made their life along the mountains not only difficult, they’re already in the verge of quitting the mission.
Yesterday, they were having fun that they saw two large monsters and killed it. The finishing blows even went to be Siva’s privilege.
Now, he was flat eyed and regretting every bit of it.
But what can he do? What’s done is done. So instead of moping for it, he just had to face forward and move on since he doesn‘t have time to spare.
Apparently, the area near the top of the mountain was a place for B-ranked monsters. They were nesting there and for some good reason, they are all attracted to the smell of food coming their way. It was not even a surprise to learn that within this large area, only a few groups of people would actually dare go.
That’s because the monsters here are all B-ranked ones and only they are big, they’re also very vicious and needed careful attention to be able to defeat.
How they were able to only meet two of them on Siva’s agitated state? It could also be called luck. 2
When they finally reached the peak, it seemed that all worries and hardships, including his blunder and all their fatigue vanished from the sight of the view. There were the green fields, the forests, a river that was like a snake cutting the land towards the horizon, the Walled City of Hagonoy that seemed so small it was like a rock that was formed around a wall, and the view of the path they took, all of his exhaustion seem to vanish under nature‘s beautiful master piece.
Green overlapped with blue and brown. The land in the far side below hid the forests and plains, with the seemingly ocean like size of Yellow Brick Lake a small speck of water piece.
The river that connected the lake to the city was also an enormous view when seen from that side but from up here, it seemed just like a thread.
“Beautiful.” Beside Siva, Hawkeye commented.
Beside her was Samara and Agatha, taking pictures while Volt was busy doing mapping and.
At that point, Agatha took out four floating balls and it floated around behind her as if it was alive.
“What are those?” Siva asked her.
“Nanobots or most commonly known as Camera Balls.”
“For?”
“For taking videos and picture and also to record the mapped area that Volt is taking right now.”
Siva glanced at Volt and he was manipulating some sort of hologram panel. After a few moments, six small devices just like the ones around Agatha arrived and it joined Agatha’s palm sized nanobots.
At that moment, laser lights came and it became a map of the area in bluish 3D lines, hovering in front of them like a military tactical map.
Siva was amazed at the sight of it.
He never knew that such equipment existed inside the game. And when he asked how much those devices cost, he got the mind ruining answer, “Z20M each.”
And ever since then, he only watched and swallowed every question he wanted to asked. Just how much do they really earn for the past how many years doing their blog and hired adventurers job?
He could only guess. +
Eventually, he got the explanation from Samara.
“These equipments are sponsored by our clients. One Nanobot, one client. We’ve been doing our job for the last two years inside the game. We already had lost ten nanobots due to surprise monster attacks and so we learned to only use them when in a clearing.”
“I see.” With sweat forming on his temples, Siva nod and accepts the fact that money making was a simple feat on these guys. Maybe I could do that too?
“The total area is one square kilometer.” Volt spoke up and he manipulated the 3D map. “There is a large lake over there but there is no cave around here.”
“But this is the top of the mountain right?”
Siva looked around on Agatha’s words and even him can see that there were already no place to climb up. It really is the top of the mountain.
The green fields, the bonsai trees, the brownish and green land was all there is around them.
Even if he had to say that the trees not too far away from them were entrance to the forest, he knew that on either side of this area, there would only be a cliff or the way down.
Then were we tricked?
—No.
A mission from an NPC is an absolute rule. Inside the game, there is no NPC that would lie when giving out a mission or a quest. Given as it may that a mission difficulty is a joke on its own, but a mission is still a mission. It was not designed to be a lie nor to trick the players into their own death.
Not unless…
As these thoughts entered his mind, a loud roar came to break the tranquil silence of the mountain top.
The cold wind became warm, the trees not too far away swayed and their leaves left a sound that bade an ominous feeling. That one loud roar changed their silent rest and they became aware that it was not just a normal monster.
“S-rank?” Siva asked and he held his fists that was already wearing Cassius Clay.
“I‘m not sure.” Volt answered and the five of them went back to back with each other.
The strong wind came shaking the trees more. The hot air surrounded them like a hurricane, a loud sound that came like a roar came down from the east side.
The roar became louder, seeming to close in on them from the grey cloud sky.
At this moment, Siva’s eyes weren’t joking when he saw a silhouette of a large winged monster coming down at their direction. And then, as a reflex, he yelled out to dodge and the five of them scattered as the large shadow crashed where they stood.
The ear deafening explosion created clouds of dust and the ground shook wildly.
But when Siva raised his head, what he saw was just enough to put his nightmares to shame. Dark skin, gold yellow eyes, two whiskers, clawed wings that span at least seventy to eighty meters, a body that looked like a malamute but with a toughed up physique and vicious looking appearance, its bright golden eyes glaring at them, a low sounding growl coming from its direction, like a mother cat’s growl when you’re touching her babies, only louder and more terrifyingly sounding from around twenty meters away… +
He was sure now, this isn’t a monster.
This is a dragon.
All his hairs stood, gooseflesh crawled from his legs to his nape, sending a chill down to his spine telling him to run away.
And at that short pause, it roared and the dust clouds vanished from the surroundings, revealing the creature in the middle of the crater he made a few moments ago.
“Oh no…” Siva looked at Hawkeye who was caving in on where she landed after she dodged. She was the nearest to him so he heard her voice that sounded really scared.
He looked around and saw Agatha’s frozen state from his right while Samara from behind the dragon nodded at him and pointed at the direction where they came from.
She recovered fast, that was admirable.
But where’s Volt?
As his eyes wandered more, Siva heard Hawkeye’s scream from his left side.
“Kuya!”
Siva followed her gaze and saw Volt at the dragon’s tail, pressed down by its sheer weight and struggling.
The dragon leaned back and saw him, he froze there and the dragon raised his spiked tail and acted as if he was about to finish Volt.
“No!”
Siva screamed and dashed forward.
He used air jump to boost his momentum and his own agility to close the gap in two seconds. But the tail was faster and he knew he won’t make it. But then two pillars of bluish white light came from behind and hit the tail, the dragon was hurt that it stood up. It glared on its attacker and Samara immediately activated her Float magic to escape, stepping back thirty meters in just four easy steps.
“Kuya!” Hawkeye screamed and Volt jumped away towards Agatha who then healed him using contact healing magic, First Aid. It was a tier 2 magic using less MNA and heals almost as much as the 10MNA costing healing magic. +
“Shit! I thought I was going to die!” Volt held his chest as he was helped by Agatha to stand up. “Thanks Agatha.”
“It‘s alright. But more importantly, we have to get out of here. That‘s a Forest Dragon!”
“Yeah…”
The two was around fifty meters away from Siva but instead of slowing down or stopping, he punched the dragon on its body, the highest he can jump, and it was now glaring at him with angry eyes.
“Go!” He screamed on the party voice chat over the small ear set of the communicator. “I‘ll buy you guys some time! Go! Get away!”
Then he punched again as he used another Air Jump to hit the dragon’s chest. Its bearing was like that of a proud lion. When it reacted to Samara’s attack, its pose was that of an angered wild beast. But the most vexing thing it did wasn’t to attack back but instead, it studied his attacker, just like what it’s doing right now.
The dragon only roared as a retaliation to Siva but it was still enough to knock him back 10 meters.
“Siva!” Screamed Agatha but Siva only rebuked her.
“Don‘t just stand there! Go!”
As he screamed, the dragon’s attention was now solely focused on him and it was here that it flapped its wings as if acknowledging that fact.
“We won‘t leave you here!” Yelled Hawkeye as she let go of four arrows almost simultaneously. “You‘ll die if we leave you here!”
“I have another ability. I can escape from here! Just go!” On Siva’s words, Volt pulled Agatha and his sister to the opposite direction. Volt’s and Siva’s eyes met, he nodded to him, and Volt curled his brows as he pursed his lips while pulling them away.
“But Kuya!”
“Stop it!” Volt’s voice sounded scolding. His face is firm, his grip was tight. Hawkeye had never seen this side of her brother before, even in real life when he’s scolding her for her mistakes. “This isn’t something to be arguing about.” +
She wanted to say, this is just a game.
But when she looked back on Siva’s direction, as he was about to come face to face with a dragon, his eyes fierce, his expression stern, she felt that something was not right.
And it was here that she remembered Siva‘s —Rex’s sad face when she heard that story. 1
For his brother…
For him, this world is not just a game, everything he did here concerned his brother’s life. His life.
Even so.
She argued to herself.
What’s wrong about fighting a dragon? Yes it may hurt, but that’s just how far it could go, right? So why are we retreating on such a good game and all? Such loss for an experience…
Unable to process the reason why, Hawkeye pulled her arm that made Agatha and Volt stop.
“This is just a game!” She screamed. “Let‘s go and fight. If we die, we can just start over again!”
“Stop it!” Volt rebuked. “I said this is not something to be arguing about.”
“But we can defeat that monster if we…”
“No we can‘t!” Volt yelled and Hawkeye fell silent as she met his gaze. “We can‘t even defeat an S-rank monster without exerting full effort and almost dying, to the point that even Agatha had to join the fight. How can you even say that we can defeat a dragon?”
Hawkeye was speechless. And it was at that moment that Samara landed, with her cannons floating casually beside her, and spoke up between her breaths.
“I think I know where the cave is!” At that, Agatha, Volt and Hawkeye waited for her to speak up as her expression changed from urgent to anxious. “But we’ll have to rely on Siva‘s help to get there.”
“Why?” Agatha asked.
“It‘s hidden between those clouds. There was a small floating island in there. I just happen to see some weird looking vines going up so I landed on that realization.”
“And?” Volt prompted.
“And the dragon made it its nest. We can‘t get there without a distraction.”
Hawkeye was still silent but she realized why they had to go on Siva’s command. In his mind, he wanted to complete the mission, that’s why he had to go and be the distraction so that they can find the cave.
And now that they had a clue to where it is, all the more he can’t leave his fight with the dragon.
But then again, if he’s doing it for his brother, if he dies…
“What about Siva?” Hawkeye spoke. “We can‘t just leave him alone to fight that monster! He will die!”
“No he won‘t!” Samara answered her.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because before I left there, I saw how his attacks were hurting the monster.”
At that, Hawkeye looked at her brother. “Ah!”
“You get it now?” Volt smiled and she followed.
“What? What are you talking about?” Agatha was left dumbstruck, unable to follow their conversation.
Then, Volt looked back at the direction of their fight with a look that spoke of an unspoken sentence. And he opened his mouth, saying, “He had this ability to lower the enemy‘s defenses. So no matter how much strong a monster is…”
“He can always bring it down to its knees.”
Volt look at his sister and smiled. Samara nodded as their eyes met and she pulled Agatha with her and flew.
“Wait, wait! Where are we going?” Agatha clung on to her tightly as she wasn’t affected by Samara’s Float.
“Heal him.” Samara told her. “If my observations are correct, he may be able to lower the enemy‘s defenses but their attack’s damage is still normal.”
At that, Agatha pursed her lips. She could only hope that Siva could last. Healing Magic can regenerate HP, reduces pain, and heal wounds, but it can’t take away fatigue during the fight. And that’s what actually wears down Volt and the others. What more is a Hyper Melee combatant like Siva?
She could only imagine how it was, thus, she could only purse her lips and hope he’s okay.
- 91
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Update 28
Sorry, I Can't Help It
‘We found the cave! Me and Hawkeye will go there.’
‘Alright.’
‘Samara is carrying Agatha to support you.’
‘We’re almost there!’
‘Count on me!’
‘Please be careful.’
‘I will.’
‘Don’t die on us, Siva.’
‘I won’t.’
As the conversation went on in the communication line, Siva’s attention was slightly diverted from his opponent and a black scale the dragon shot out from the sky destroyed the rock he was hiding at.
The blast threw him off balance and his HP on his upper left vision dropped by a staggering 10%. Now, he was only left with a mere 56% of his total HP and with his painful wounds, his movements and reactions were getting slow.
“Shit.”
The dragon landed and started a tackle. Siva stood up and ran forward to meet the dragon. The dragon’s head attack was just like that of a Heron but its size was three times more that it was a foolish act if he had to meet it head on.
And so what he did was jump and he landed on the dragon’s back but as soon as he changed his equipment to the Ender, the scales on the dragon’s back hardened and some fins sharp enough to cut started to shoot out.
Its size was no less than his finger but the force of it was enough to shoot him off the dragon’s back.
His HP dropped by 18% and the needle like fins has made the wounds bleed, making him lose 1% HP every three seconds.
“This is impossible…I can‘t get close.”
Siva gritted his teeth as he pulled the needles from his arms and body one by one. The minimal defenses offered by his long sleeve shirt and pants were rather a disadvantage at this point.
But he couldn’t help it.
If he were to wear an armor, not only it was heavy, it would also hinder his movements, especially since he had a unique fighting style that relied heavily on agility and quick reflexive movements.
The dragon roared once again, and he knew that an attack was coming. His initial thought is to jump back but his instincts told him to jump to the side.
And as soon as he followed his instincts, a shadow fell from over head that smashed right through where he previously stood. It was the dragon’s tail and basing on how deep the dent on the ground was after that, he would have died instantly even if his HP was 100%.
Just how much powerful is this dragon?
As he thought of how regretful it was, he was even more shocked when he saw the tail’s end had some spiked bones in it. The tail moved and he knew what was coming next as he jumped up just in time to dodge a sweeping attack.
He kicked the air tried to stab the tail with his sword but it was moving too quickly and he missed.
As he pulled the sword from the ground, the dragon faced him and it roared angrily seeing that his opponent had survived.
“Heh. Yes I‘m alive you monster!”
And at that moment, two B-ranked monsters arrived in the scene and they glared angrily on the small human facing the dragon.
Those B-ranked monsters all had eyes shaded in grey that indicated that they were under Siva’s spell.
“Blasted ability!”
Just as he exclaimed, his body was engulfed in a bluish white light and his HP regenerated, and his wounds along with its pain disappeared.
He knew then that help had arrived.
Facing the dragon, Siva clenched his fist as he cook a plan to escape.
‘And you still found this situation exciting?!’
He heard Agatha’s voice scolding him from the party chat line over the communicator‘s receiver on his ear piece. Following that is Samara who had shouted, ‘Stop screwing around!’ angrily.
‘Sorry. I can’t help it. I was provoked by the dragon and his disappointed look.’
‘Whatever, just get out of there!’
‘I can’t.’ Siva answered and from a hundred meters away, Agatha’s face frowned.
‘Why?’
‘I still haven’t received Volt’s report.’
At that, Samara flew up and pointed her cannons.
‘I’ll help out. Agatha, you contact them.’
‘Wait! Don’t leave me!’
‘Just scream if ever you’re in trouble.’ And she flew up, denying gravity, and started firing off on the B-rank monsters who resisted her attacks 2 to 1. It took two shots of those larger ones before he took down one.
Siva’s eyes wandered around as six B-rank monsters added some weights on his problem. And just when the nearest two B-ranked monsters started to attack, the dragon reacted and bit their heads to death.
“Well, well, well…what do you know…”
‘So their relationships aren‘t that good?’
‘Seems like it.’
On the other side, Samara was also smiling on the fact that they just discovered something precious.
Siva smiled and thought of a plan and so he used the dragon’s small distraction to dash forward, avoiding three Raptors, the B-ranked monsters with their wings turned to clawed limbs, 15 meters high, can crawl into four limbs, and had a brown body with crocodile scales on their backs to their tails.
The monsters followed him with their fangs, totally ignoring the black skinned dragon who then saw that as a threat to his prey and attacked them instead.
On the southern horizon, just a few tens of meters away from Agatha, came ape-like B-rank monsters with one eye and pink fur. These are Cyclops Monkeys with four arms and short legs. They are literally monkeys only with pinks furs and their four hands each holding an uprooted tree.
GRAAAAAWWWWRRRRR…
There were four of them and the roar frightened the lone Agatha who hid herself in the trees and mentally transformed from a human to a flea.
The four Cyclops Monkeys charged right at Siva’s direction, totally ignoring Agatha, and upon seeing this, the dragon also roared in anger as it met them, seeming to defend Siva.
“So it really is a prideful creature.” Siva murmured and jumped to cling on the dragon’s neck who seemed to have forgotten the fact that he was still there.
Just as before, the dragon’s back had this instinctive reflex to shoot out needles but for some reason, the gap that is his neck had no such feat whatsoever. At this, he thought of how to deal with a dragon and suddenly realized that they aren’t that scary after all.
You just have to discover their weakness and thus, you can gain an advantage against them.
But then again, away from his demented thoughts, this realization only applied on his case. That’s because no normal user in their right minds would attack a dragon head on…
alone.
Just like rodeo, Siva used the sword and stabbed the dragon’s neck. That gave him two important things in return.
The first was that for the first time, he dealt damage to the dragon. And second, he now had something firm and solid to cling on. Tough luck, just like a rodeo ride, lasting 20 seconds riding a wild beast who wanted you off his back was already a feat. But him, he’s been there for 30 seconds and he still had no plans on letting go.
It’s because if does, the first thing that might happen to him is that he may become B-rank monster food, or, he may become dragon chow.
Either choices weren’t options and so he desperately clung on the sword enduring the fatigued arms and the world switching poles as if his life depended on.
Actually, his life does depend on it.
‘Vooooooooollttttt…!’ He shouted on the chat line.
‘We’re almost there!’
‘Shit! Don’t forget to hang yourself when you reach the top, okay?’
‘Screw you! This is your idea in the first place!’
‘I can’t hold on much longer…!!’
‘Just continue acting cool!’
‘I hope you slip!’
‘Whoaaaaa…shut up!’
‘Move your ass damn it!’
As the two argued in the line, Agatha who was left alone in some random part of the plain could only smile as he enjoyed the funny conversation while muttering a mantra to avert her fright.
“Please don‘t notice me… Please don‘t notice me… Please don‘t notice me… Please don‘t notice me…”
***
Volt clang on to the vine formation that measured only a few meters in circumference and slipped. He yell out angrily to the person he’s talking to in the chat line and while all of this was happening, Hawkeye could hear a prayer in the back ground.
She was looking at his brother from thirty meters away, clinging on the swaying vine formation on her own. There are hundreds of them pulling the island in the sky back to the ground and in between them were a few blocks of rock, Hoverstones, that was the reason the island in the sky was floating.
Hoverstones had the ability to lift anything up to a certain degree basing on the size of the stones. The bigger the chunk are, the heavier the object it can lift and the higher it can go.
And in this case, Hawkeye could clearly see the large chunk of rock that was below the floating island.
Basing on its position as she looked down, she could see the large lake below. And if she would fall from this height, she knew that she would be safe because of the lake below.
At that, she spoke up, “I think that lake is where this floating island was supposed to have been.”
“I thought so too.” Volt’s voice echoed back. “Let‘s hurry. That guy may have sounded joking but fighting a dragon wasn‘t easy.”
“You‘re right.”
Hawkeye and Volt climbed. She jumped from the chunk that was being held by the vines and agilely transferred from one place to another. She was like a cat jumping off from roof to roof, her body was as light as feather that seemed to ignore the strong winds that rejected her body.
She saw Volt trying to do the same but since he was heavier and wasn’t used to dodging monster attacks, he could only jump normally and use the Hoverstone as a landing pad to catch his weight.
There were only a few tens of meters more before they reached the edge of the floating island.
Since the island seemed to have been floating there for a long time, the forest that was untouched by culture began to grow as a rainforest.
Hawkeye reached the edge first and ran towards her brother. She saw him and helped him climbed up and at that, Volt immediately summoned the Nanobots in his inventory and started the scan.
After a while, the Nanobots came back and the 3D image of the floating island appeared in front of them.
“Here!” Volt exclaimed as he pointed out on a part in the map area. The area in the 3D map zoomed in and he manipulated the rendering to display the topography and he saw the temple that should have been where the altar was.
“It’s in the middle of the island.”
Volt stood up and fixed the weapon on his back and the hilt protruded on his right shoulder. “We should be careful. Let‘s go.”
The two ran and proceeded on a straight line. There were no monsters in their vicinity and the place featured a beautiful scenery. The vista of an old temple in the middle of the forest, lighted up by the sun (Sol for the Terrans) from in between the leaves of the tall trees gave off a serene atmosphere that left a soft impression.
The bright light and the contrast of the deep shadow of the untouched forest overlapped with the temple’s image and the created projection could only be called a master piece of nature.
“Beautiful.”
Unable to stop her urge, Hawkeye summoned a tiny device from her inventory and attached it on her left temple and started to record.
Volt took the first step, “Let‘s go.”, and went inside the temple where they immediately saw an empty altar.
“This…”
“Kuya! There‘s nothing here!”
The two searched but there was nothing in the altar.
“We‘ve been tricked!” shouted Volt and it was heard in the party chat line.
‘You’ve got to be mistaken!’ Siva’s voice shouted in the other line. ‘There’s no way an NPC would lie about a mission!’
“But there was nothing here!”
“Kuya’s right. There‘s nothing inside this temple!”
‘Temple?! Who ever said anything about a temple?!’
And as if the two realized something, they conversed with their glances and Volt summoned back the map and began to scan its surroundings. And then it was a few seconds later that Hawkeye pointed a dent on the hill somewhere close by the temple.
“That‘s it!” Volt exclaimed. “Siva, hold on for a few minutes more. We found the cave!”
‘Stop talking! Just go!’
At that, Volt led the running while Hawkeye paused to record a part of the wall where some sort of words were written in an ancient alphabet she can’t read. And then, she ran and followed.
But upon reaching the entrance of the temple, Volt held out an open palm.
“What is it?” She asked and Volt cocked his head to point Hawkeye’s glance towards the front. And it was there that the missing monsters were gathered reaching over fifty.
“Is this part of the mission‘s challenge?”
“Kuya…”
On his sister’s anxious call, Volt pulled his sword and had a beam radiating on his lips that was closely similar to Siva’s berserker mode grin.
“That damn bastard.” He said that sent shivers to his sister. “Is his ability a virus or something?”
Sorry, I Can't Help It
‘We found the cave! Me and Hawkeye will go there.’
‘Alright.’
‘Samara is carrying Agatha to support you.’
‘We’re almost there!’
‘Count on me!’
‘Please be careful.’
‘I will.’
‘Don’t die on us, Siva.’
‘I won’t.’
As the conversation went on in the communication line, Siva’s attention was slightly diverted from his opponent and a black scale the dragon shot out from the sky destroyed the rock he was hiding at.
The blast threw him off balance and his HP on his upper left vision dropped by a staggering 10%. Now, he was only left with a mere 56% of his total HP and with his painful wounds, his movements and reactions were getting slow.
“Shit.”
The dragon landed and started a tackle. Siva stood up and ran forward to meet the dragon. The dragon’s head attack was just like that of a Heron but its size was three times more that it was a foolish act if he had to meet it head on.
And so what he did was jump and he landed on the dragon’s back but as soon as he changed his equipment to the Ender, the scales on the dragon’s back hardened and some fins sharp enough to cut started to shoot out.
Its size was no less than his finger but the force of it was enough to shoot him off the dragon’s back.
His HP dropped by 18% and the needle like fins has made the wounds bleed, making him lose 1% HP every three seconds.
“This is impossible…I can‘t get close.”
Siva gritted his teeth as he pulled the needles from his arms and body one by one. The minimal defenses offered by his long sleeve shirt and pants were rather a disadvantage at this point.
But he couldn’t help it.
If he were to wear an armor, not only it was heavy, it would also hinder his movements, especially since he had a unique fighting style that relied heavily on agility and quick reflexive movements.
The dragon roared once again, and he knew that an attack was coming. His initial thought is to jump back but his instincts told him to jump to the side.
And as soon as he followed his instincts, a shadow fell from over head that smashed right through where he previously stood. It was the dragon’s tail and basing on how deep the dent on the ground was after that, he would have died instantly even if his HP was 100%.
Just how much powerful is this dragon?
As he thought of how regretful it was, he was even more shocked when he saw the tail’s end had some spiked bones in it. The tail moved and he knew what was coming next as he jumped up just in time to dodge a sweeping attack.
He kicked the air tried to stab the tail with his sword but it was moving too quickly and he missed.
As he pulled the sword from the ground, the dragon faced him and it roared angrily seeing that his opponent had survived.
“Heh. Yes I‘m alive you monster!”
And at that moment, two B-ranked monsters arrived in the scene and they glared angrily on the small human facing the dragon.
Those B-ranked monsters all had eyes shaded in grey that indicated that they were under Siva’s spell.
“Blasted ability!”
Just as he exclaimed, his body was engulfed in a bluish white light and his HP regenerated, and his wounds along with its pain disappeared.
He knew then that help had arrived.
Facing the dragon, Siva clenched his fist as he cook a plan to escape.
‘And you still found this situation exciting?!’
He heard Agatha’s voice scolding him from the party chat line over the communicator‘s receiver on his ear piece. Following that is Samara who had shouted, ‘Stop screwing around!’ angrily.
‘Sorry. I can’t help it. I was provoked by the dragon and his disappointed look.’
‘Whatever, just get out of there!’
‘I can’t.’ Siva answered and from a hundred meters away, Agatha’s face frowned.
‘Why?’
‘I still haven’t received Volt’s report.’
At that, Samara flew up and pointed her cannons.
‘I’ll help out. Agatha, you contact them.’
‘Wait! Don’t leave me!’
‘Just scream if ever you’re in trouble.’ And she flew up, denying gravity, and started firing off on the B-rank monsters who resisted her attacks 2 to 1. It took two shots of those larger ones before he took down one.
Siva’s eyes wandered around as six B-rank monsters added some weights on his problem. And just when the nearest two B-ranked monsters started to attack, the dragon reacted and bit their heads to death.
“Well, well, well…what do you know…”
‘So their relationships aren‘t that good?’
‘Seems like it.’
On the other side, Samara was also smiling on the fact that they just discovered something precious.
Siva smiled and thought of a plan and so he used the dragon’s small distraction to dash forward, avoiding three Raptors, the B-ranked monsters with their wings turned to clawed limbs, 15 meters high, can crawl into four limbs, and had a brown body with crocodile scales on their backs to their tails.
The monsters followed him with their fangs, totally ignoring the black skinned dragon who then saw that as a threat to his prey and attacked them instead.
On the southern horizon, just a few tens of meters away from Agatha, came ape-like B-rank monsters with one eye and pink fur. These are Cyclops Monkeys with four arms and short legs. They are literally monkeys only with pinks furs and their four hands each holding an uprooted tree.
GRAAAAAWWWWRRRRR…
There were four of them and the roar frightened the lone Agatha who hid herself in the trees and mentally transformed from a human to a flea.
The four Cyclops Monkeys charged right at Siva’s direction, totally ignoring Agatha, and upon seeing this, the dragon also roared in anger as it met them, seeming to defend Siva.
“So it really is a prideful creature.” Siva murmured and jumped to cling on the dragon’s neck who seemed to have forgotten the fact that he was still there.
Just as before, the dragon’s back had this instinctive reflex to shoot out needles but for some reason, the gap that is his neck had no such feat whatsoever. At this, he thought of how to deal with a dragon and suddenly realized that they aren’t that scary after all.
You just have to discover their weakness and thus, you can gain an advantage against them.
But then again, away from his demented thoughts, this realization only applied on his case. That’s because no normal user in their right minds would attack a dragon head on…
alone.
Just like rodeo, Siva used the sword and stabbed the dragon’s neck. That gave him two important things in return.
The first was that for the first time, he dealt damage to the dragon. And second, he now had something firm and solid to cling on. Tough luck, just like a rodeo ride, lasting 20 seconds riding a wild beast who wanted you off his back was already a feat. But him, he’s been there for 30 seconds and he still had no plans on letting go.
It’s because if does, the first thing that might happen to him is that he may become B-rank monster food, or, he may become dragon chow.
Either choices weren’t options and so he desperately clung on the sword enduring the fatigued arms and the world switching poles as if his life depended on.
Actually, his life does depend on it.
‘Vooooooooollttttt…!’ He shouted on the chat line.
‘We’re almost there!’
‘Shit! Don’t forget to hang yourself when you reach the top, okay?’
‘Screw you! This is your idea in the first place!’
‘I can’t hold on much longer…!!’
‘Just continue acting cool!’
‘I hope you slip!’
‘Whoaaaaa…shut up!’
‘Move your ass damn it!’
As the two argued in the line, Agatha who was left alone in some random part of the plain could only smile as he enjoyed the funny conversation while muttering a mantra to avert her fright.
“Please don‘t notice me… Please don‘t notice me… Please don‘t notice me… Please don‘t notice me…”
***
Volt clang on to the vine formation that measured only a few meters in circumference and slipped. He yell out angrily to the person he’s talking to in the chat line and while all of this was happening, Hawkeye could hear a prayer in the back ground.
She was looking at his brother from thirty meters away, clinging on the swaying vine formation on her own. There are hundreds of them pulling the island in the sky back to the ground and in between them were a few blocks of rock, Hoverstones, that was the reason the island in the sky was floating.
Hoverstones had the ability to lift anything up to a certain degree basing on the size of the stones. The bigger the chunk are, the heavier the object it can lift and the higher it can go.
And in this case, Hawkeye could clearly see the large chunk of rock that was below the floating island.
Basing on its position as she looked down, she could see the large lake below. And if she would fall from this height, she knew that she would be safe because of the lake below.
At that, she spoke up, “I think that lake is where this floating island was supposed to have been.”
“I thought so too.” Volt’s voice echoed back. “Let‘s hurry. That guy may have sounded joking but fighting a dragon wasn‘t easy.”
“You‘re right.”
Hawkeye and Volt climbed. She jumped from the chunk that was being held by the vines and agilely transferred from one place to another. She was like a cat jumping off from roof to roof, her body was as light as feather that seemed to ignore the strong winds that rejected her body.
She saw Volt trying to do the same but since he was heavier and wasn’t used to dodging monster attacks, he could only jump normally and use the Hoverstone as a landing pad to catch his weight.
There were only a few tens of meters more before they reached the edge of the floating island.
Since the island seemed to have been floating there for a long time, the forest that was untouched by culture began to grow as a rainforest.
Hawkeye reached the edge first and ran towards her brother. She saw him and helped him climbed up and at that, Volt immediately summoned the Nanobots in his inventory and started the scan.
After a while, the Nanobots came back and the 3D image of the floating island appeared in front of them.
“Here!” Volt exclaimed as he pointed out on a part in the map area. The area in the 3D map zoomed in and he manipulated the rendering to display the topography and he saw the temple that should have been where the altar was.
“It’s in the middle of the island.”
Volt stood up and fixed the weapon on his back and the hilt protruded on his right shoulder. “We should be careful. Let‘s go.”
The two ran and proceeded on a straight line. There were no monsters in their vicinity and the place featured a beautiful scenery. The vista of an old temple in the middle of the forest, lighted up by the sun (Sol for the Terrans) from in between the leaves of the tall trees gave off a serene atmosphere that left a soft impression.
The bright light and the contrast of the deep shadow of the untouched forest overlapped with the temple’s image and the created projection could only be called a master piece of nature.
“Beautiful.”
Unable to stop her urge, Hawkeye summoned a tiny device from her inventory and attached it on her left temple and started to record.
Volt took the first step, “Let‘s go.”, and went inside the temple where they immediately saw an empty altar.
“This…”
“Kuya! There‘s nothing here!”
The two searched but there was nothing in the altar.
“We‘ve been tricked!” shouted Volt and it was heard in the party chat line.
‘You’ve got to be mistaken!’ Siva’s voice shouted in the other line. ‘There’s no way an NPC would lie about a mission!’
“But there was nothing here!”
“Kuya’s right. There‘s nothing inside this temple!”
‘Temple?! Who ever said anything about a temple?!’
And as if the two realized something, they conversed with their glances and Volt summoned back the map and began to scan its surroundings. And then it was a few seconds later that Hawkeye pointed a dent on the hill somewhere close by the temple.
“That‘s it!” Volt exclaimed. “Siva, hold on for a few minutes more. We found the cave!”
‘Stop talking! Just go!’
At that, Volt led the running while Hawkeye paused to record a part of the wall where some sort of words were written in an ancient alphabet she can’t read. And then, she ran and followed.
But upon reaching the entrance of the temple, Volt held out an open palm.
“What is it?” She asked and Volt cocked his head to point Hawkeye’s glance towards the front. And it was there that the missing monsters were gathered reaching over fifty.
“Is this part of the mission‘s challenge?”
“Kuya…”
On his sister’s anxious call, Volt pulled his sword and had a beam radiating on his lips that was closely similar to Siva’s berserker mode grin.
“That damn bastard.” He said that sent shivers to his sister. “Is his ability a virus or something?”
- 91
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Updated 29
B-Ranked Virus
Damn! I’ve got to hold out!
Siva grabbed a scale from the head of the dragon and rearranged his position, stabbing the sword again on the vulnerable small space that is the dragon’s neck.
Blood flowed out from where the dragon was first stabbed and with the second injury, the swaying and the rodeo ride became more violent, enough to actually kill a few monsters on the dragon’s wake.
The B-ranked monsters’ numbers began to dwindle and it was becoming visible with the trampled bodies all around them.
Siva’s hands were already in the verge of giving up but he still managed with sheer will. He sometimes get a jolt when a B-rank monster finds its way to the dragon and bite the leg. Since that’s the only place their height managed to reach on the dragon’s massive size, this dark skinned king of the forest kicked them off that gave the jolt.
If it weren’t for Samara’s support and Agatha’s buffs that was supporting him, he would have died long ago.
“I won‘t die here!”
Siva screamed and unsummoned his foot gear, using his left hand and manually manipulated the equipment settings on his character window.
He changed the third equipment settings to double weapon, sacrificing the air jump skill that his boots gave and changed it to Cassius Clay.
When he had confirmed the change, the swaying began to take a new turn as the dragon started to flap its wings and take height. From the looks of things, the large creature seemed to be planning to use the bullet scales to rain down on the enemies below.
“No you won‘t!”
He screamed and raised his right hand, he stamped on the dragon’s neck with all his might and the shock took a toll on the dragon as it momentarily froze in mid flight, leading for a hard fall. And at that moment…
I’ll die if I fall with him!
Siva had no choice but to jump. Luckily, the dragon was above the lake and he crashed right into the water while the dragon landed near the shore.
““Siva!”” Samara’s and Agatha’s scream echoed on the chat line. Siva swam to the surface and Samara saw him, took a dive and caught his hand.
“Thank you!” Siva raised his head as he told Samara his gratitude. The two landed sixty meters or so away from Agatha and she healed him, recovering his HP.
“That fall was dangerous.” Samara commented.
“Yeah. Even though I landed on the water, it still had 20% of my HP chipped away.”
“The dragon’s alive!” Agatha’s scream made the two look at the direction where the dragon fell and they saw it crawling towards the shore, its left wing broken, and its breathing heavy.
“Looks like you did a great job on him.” Samara had a smile as she offered a hand to help Siva stand.
Siva then brushed up his hair who had its automatic fixing seem to be canceled because it was wet. “Now starts the fair fight.” He said as he was brushing away the excess water on his clothes. “He won’t be flying anytime soon and those scale bullets are now useless.”
“But it doesn’t mean that the dragon is weaker than before.”
“Yeah, you‘re right.” Siva nodded and changed his equipment to the first settings where he can use the Air Jump and the Cassius Clay. “There’s also the B-ranked monsters. Can you take them out?”
“I can.” Samara replied and lifted the grip on her left hand and the left cannon hovering beside her, followed the movements. “But I’m out of manna. I won’t be floating around for the next few minutes.”
“I’m also out of manna,” said Agatha and started to manipulate her character window. “I‘ve also ran out of manna potions trying to heal Siva‘s HP earlier.”
Siva clicked his tongue and the anxiety had extended even to the two girls. Still, Siva clenched his fists as they watched the dragon roared, seemingly happy that he was also alive. The dragon looked around and found Siva who was walking towards him like a victorious gladiator towards the coliseum where he belonged.
“This is our final showdown!” Siva screamed and he leaned back to see Agatha’s and Samara’s anxiousness.
I won’t die here.
His mind dictated that and they both stopped fifty meters away from each other.
The dragon swayed its head up and down, moving its left front paw like a dog seeing his master come home. A trace of what seemed to be a smile emerged on the dark skinned dragon and though his wing were broke, he still tried to tuck it in to maintain his majestic pose.
The B-ranked monsters who now numbered only a few tens, around 30, were still large imposing monsters that without Samara’s cover fires would’ve completely overwhelmed Siva since the beginning.
For him, these moments of silence were the ones that will decide his faith.
He closed his eyes and clenched his fist hard.
How are you? he thought with bitterness. Don’t you worry li’l bro, Kuya will take you home. Promise.
Siva opened his eyes and made an open armed stance to all the monsters. This sight shocked the two girls on the sidelines and the dragon’s golden eyes narrowed as the interpretation of his challenger’s actions seemed to be pointed directly at him.
It was a taunt.
The dragon’s head went up and down, and a grumpy sound came from him as the dazed monsters began their assault on the origin of the dreaded ability.
Anger and competition ignited the dragon to roar and strays of dark bullets went passed Siva’s head that came from its mouth.
So that’s the famous Dragon Roar?
Majority of these countless bullets hit the monsters and the extreme pain woke them up from their trans.
Too bad, a dragon was angry at them for targeting his prey and so a battle of creatures began between those who woke up from Siva’s ability and the angry dragon, trying to protect his beloved prey.
Siva used this opportunity to get close to his enemy and even though he could have escaped from there to avoid unnecessary fighting, he knew that the dragon won’t let him be, especially since his ability was still in effect to these monsters.
In short, he really had no choice but to fight on.
That’s why he clicked his tongue earlier.
Their second round began with two B-rank monsters falling prey to the dragon’s wrath. One was bitten to death, the other was crushed with a powerful paw. The claws sank easily on the monster’s body and Siva found it hard to believe that up ’till now, the dragon was still holding back.
A smile emerged on his lips as his head boiled on the thought of this belittlement.
Siva ignored the B-ranked monsters going at him and went straight for the dragon. He used its own pride against him as he led the monsters towards the already wounded dragon.
And when he remembered wounded, an idea entered his mind. He dragged his eyes to the dragon’s neck and there he saw the last hope he can use against it.
The black dragon began to roar again and on its mouth came countless black colored bullets that went towards his direction. Unable to dodge, Siva clapped his hands and a dome of invisible air pressure created a wall that defended him from the attack.
The range spread to almost six meters and a B-rank monster was also caught on the attack. That monster got blown from him, swaying its tail and hitting a four armed Cyclops Monkey right on the face.
That humanoid monster woke up from its trans and shook its head, seeing the dragon after, and gave a growl. It immediately clang on one of its legs and the two wrestled as the dragon tried to shake the monster off.
“That‘s right! Cling like a virus you are!”
Siva was happily enjoying the thrill. Everything was going according to his plans and he was laughing as he punched a clawed attack from a Raptor aside as if it’s a mosquito. Then he switched to using the guns and he shot that monster point blank right in the eyes.
“Siva look out!” Samara’s voice echoed and Siva’s attention spun towards a fast approaching shadow. The dragon’s temper reached its climax and it swung its tail that took out five B-ranked monsters instantly.
Along with it was Siva who just luckily been close to the dragon so the force of the attack wasn‘t as critical as to end his life in an instant.
Still, he grimmed as he saw the remaining life in his HP bar. There were only 44% left. That last attack just chipped away a staggering 50% of his life. This reality hit Siva like a giant ice pack put directly on his teeth.
Even considering the amount of monsters that was caught in that attack served as cushion to minimize the damage on him, 50% damage on HP is still too much.
“Damn you…” He hissed as he slowly stood up.
From where he was thrown off, two B-rank monsters also survived. But suddenly, those two reverted back to their trans state, Killing Zone was activated again and this truth made the two girl’s expression grim.
Siva stepped forth and shot the nearest monster in the eye point blank. Two bullets went directly from its eye to its brain, killing it while the other also received the same fate as it failed to recover in time before Siva arrived at his place.
Right then, the dragon roared and glared at Siva and Siva in turn also glared at him.
The two glared at each other as the few remaining monsters were all taken out by Samara’s cover fire one by one. And just as the momentum was going on her side, that’s where the firing stopped.
“Oh no!” Samara exclaimed on the chat channel. “I ran out of ammo! Agatha!”
“I just healed you earlier. I’m still recovering. I can only use first aid for the next fifteen minutes.”
Samara’s expression darkened as she faced Siva’s direction and screamed. “Siva!” Then she faced Agatha below. “Siva’s in danger! He just got hit!”
But the call was now lost as Siva is plunged deeply on the thought of a duel. The glaring stopped and a duel began between a dragon and a human with astounding reality. It may seem like a dream but the roars, the loud explosions of the dragon’s attacks missing, the sound of metal hitting hardened scales, it all rang throughout the area and attracted other souls curious to its origins.
“Siva!” “Siva!”
The girls’ voices overlapped as they called.
Siva’s attack looked useless but it still had minimal damage despite not having the Air Shot along with his attacks. There was only the booster that reacts when the fist is about an inch away from the surface of its target and the hardened material of the Cassius Clay that was officially a C-Class weapon is the only weapon he had against the dragon.
Still, thanks to the damage it had fighting off all the B-ranked monsters attracted to Siva’s ability, its power and stamina had dropped by a considerable amount.
Adding the bleeding wound on the dragon’s neck, though small that wound may seem, the Ender was also still there with its ongoing Grinding function so the damage it has created had already became significant to the point that the dragon was starting to lose focus.
The Dragon Roar which could easily deal enormous damage on the enemy had lost its effectivity.
The dragon began to spit blood every time it used the attack and Siva’s observation did not escape this small detail. It made him smile and so he continued the hit and run strategy he’d been using until now.
Crazy.
This was the only word Samara and Agatha could make out of his fighting style.
Every time that Siva dodged the hair raising attack, it still had a small damage on him since he himself was already nearing his mental and physical limit.
His punches began to go weak and even though he had been successful on avoiding the attacks until now, it was still a large fact that he is fighting a creature who had superior endurance and strength from him.
And so the difference on them came clear in one very unfortunate instance.
Siva was about to lurch upward and use Air Jump to avoid a sweeping tail attack when his reaction came late and he was near missed by a few inches.
He got thrown off as he spun around in mid air for who knows how many times and he landed hard on the ground and rolled off that made Samara’s and Agatha’s heart skip a few beat. In reaction, Samara ran and left Agatha on the tree and she used her Float Magic to do a dash along with the simple technological purpose of her knee long witch’s boots.
Just like Air Jump but it was a more expensive and a more sophisticated design that uses turbine mechanics for steady and constant use instead of compressed air made for impact attacks and sudden movements.
Her dash reached Siva earlier than the dragon who turned around and aimed to rush them.
Its large head that was a fusion of lizard and wolf with whiskers and scales and golden savage eyes came as a large shadow as Samara caught Siva. She wasted no time, no pause, and no choice but to hurl him by his body, embracing him as she used the momentum of her run to flee. The clawed scaly paw hit the ground and made a crater while the two got blown off balance by a debris hitting Samara at her back.
She saved Siva but it was in exchange for a great pain in her back that chipped away 40% of her HP.
Of course it will.
She was technically a Mage so her equipments and gears were focused with MNA and INT pluses instead of defensive functions.
She hurled in pain, rolling along with Siva who then twisted his body and used a hand stand to turn and land on his feet, making a meteorite impact onto the ground.
“Siva! Samara!”
The two stopped and they were both full of injuries.
Agatha cried out on the chat line as she watched the dragon turned its massive sized body that easily reached over 60m from head to tail over to the two.
On the other hand, Siva’s eyes became blurry as the dragon’s attack made his consciousness adrift for a few seconds. But when he finally found the ground to take back his sanity, he was looking at Samara who was on the ground with him, curled out in pain. The worst part is, she had a broken arm.
“Samara…”
“Siva!” Agatha’s frantic voice echoed on the device on his ear. Thankfully the party chat line was still active and he didn’t lost his communicator device. “Get out of there fast!”
“Wait, what?”
As soon as he turned to his head, a shadow came from above them and it was aiming to bite Siva’s whole body.
B-Ranked Virus
Damn! I’ve got to hold out!
Siva grabbed a scale from the head of the dragon and rearranged his position, stabbing the sword again on the vulnerable small space that is the dragon’s neck.
Blood flowed out from where the dragon was first stabbed and with the second injury, the swaying and the rodeo ride became more violent, enough to actually kill a few monsters on the dragon’s wake.
The B-ranked monsters’ numbers began to dwindle and it was becoming visible with the trampled bodies all around them.
Siva’s hands were already in the verge of giving up but he still managed with sheer will. He sometimes get a jolt when a B-rank monster finds its way to the dragon and bite the leg. Since that’s the only place their height managed to reach on the dragon’s massive size, this dark skinned king of the forest kicked them off that gave the jolt.
If it weren’t for Samara’s support and Agatha’s buffs that was supporting him, he would have died long ago.
“I won‘t die here!”
Siva screamed and unsummoned his foot gear, using his left hand and manually manipulated the equipment settings on his character window.
He changed the third equipment settings to double weapon, sacrificing the air jump skill that his boots gave and changed it to Cassius Clay.
When he had confirmed the change, the swaying began to take a new turn as the dragon started to flap its wings and take height. From the looks of things, the large creature seemed to be planning to use the bullet scales to rain down on the enemies below.
“No you won‘t!”
He screamed and raised his right hand, he stamped on the dragon’s neck with all his might and the shock took a toll on the dragon as it momentarily froze in mid flight, leading for a hard fall. And at that moment…
I’ll die if I fall with him!
Siva had no choice but to jump. Luckily, the dragon was above the lake and he crashed right into the water while the dragon landed near the shore.
““Siva!”” Samara’s and Agatha’s scream echoed on the chat line. Siva swam to the surface and Samara saw him, took a dive and caught his hand.
“Thank you!” Siva raised his head as he told Samara his gratitude. The two landed sixty meters or so away from Agatha and she healed him, recovering his HP.
“That fall was dangerous.” Samara commented.
“Yeah. Even though I landed on the water, it still had 20% of my HP chipped away.”
“The dragon’s alive!” Agatha’s scream made the two look at the direction where the dragon fell and they saw it crawling towards the shore, its left wing broken, and its breathing heavy.
“Looks like you did a great job on him.” Samara had a smile as she offered a hand to help Siva stand.
Siva then brushed up his hair who had its automatic fixing seem to be canceled because it was wet. “Now starts the fair fight.” He said as he was brushing away the excess water on his clothes. “He won’t be flying anytime soon and those scale bullets are now useless.”
“But it doesn’t mean that the dragon is weaker than before.”
“Yeah, you‘re right.” Siva nodded and changed his equipment to the first settings where he can use the Air Jump and the Cassius Clay. “There’s also the B-ranked monsters. Can you take them out?”
“I can.” Samara replied and lifted the grip on her left hand and the left cannon hovering beside her, followed the movements. “But I’m out of manna. I won’t be floating around for the next few minutes.”
“I’m also out of manna,” said Agatha and started to manipulate her character window. “I‘ve also ran out of manna potions trying to heal Siva‘s HP earlier.”
Siva clicked his tongue and the anxiety had extended even to the two girls. Still, Siva clenched his fists as they watched the dragon roared, seemingly happy that he was also alive. The dragon looked around and found Siva who was walking towards him like a victorious gladiator towards the coliseum where he belonged.
“This is our final showdown!” Siva screamed and he leaned back to see Agatha’s and Samara’s anxiousness.
I won’t die here.
His mind dictated that and they both stopped fifty meters away from each other.
The dragon swayed its head up and down, moving its left front paw like a dog seeing his master come home. A trace of what seemed to be a smile emerged on the dark skinned dragon and though his wing were broke, he still tried to tuck it in to maintain his majestic pose.
The B-ranked monsters who now numbered only a few tens, around 30, were still large imposing monsters that without Samara’s cover fires would’ve completely overwhelmed Siva since the beginning.
For him, these moments of silence were the ones that will decide his faith.
He closed his eyes and clenched his fist hard.
How are you? he thought with bitterness. Don’t you worry li’l bro, Kuya will take you home. Promise.
Siva opened his eyes and made an open armed stance to all the monsters. This sight shocked the two girls on the sidelines and the dragon’s golden eyes narrowed as the interpretation of his challenger’s actions seemed to be pointed directly at him.
It was a taunt.
The dragon’s head went up and down, and a grumpy sound came from him as the dazed monsters began their assault on the origin of the dreaded ability.
Anger and competition ignited the dragon to roar and strays of dark bullets went passed Siva’s head that came from its mouth.
So that’s the famous Dragon Roar?
Majority of these countless bullets hit the monsters and the extreme pain woke them up from their trans.
Too bad, a dragon was angry at them for targeting his prey and so a battle of creatures began between those who woke up from Siva’s ability and the angry dragon, trying to protect his beloved prey.
Siva used this opportunity to get close to his enemy and even though he could have escaped from there to avoid unnecessary fighting, he knew that the dragon won’t let him be, especially since his ability was still in effect to these monsters.
In short, he really had no choice but to fight on.
That’s why he clicked his tongue earlier.
Their second round began with two B-rank monsters falling prey to the dragon’s wrath. One was bitten to death, the other was crushed with a powerful paw. The claws sank easily on the monster’s body and Siva found it hard to believe that up ’till now, the dragon was still holding back.
A smile emerged on his lips as his head boiled on the thought of this belittlement.
Siva ignored the B-ranked monsters going at him and went straight for the dragon. He used its own pride against him as he led the monsters towards the already wounded dragon.
And when he remembered wounded, an idea entered his mind. He dragged his eyes to the dragon’s neck and there he saw the last hope he can use against it.
The black dragon began to roar again and on its mouth came countless black colored bullets that went towards his direction. Unable to dodge, Siva clapped his hands and a dome of invisible air pressure created a wall that defended him from the attack.
The range spread to almost six meters and a B-rank monster was also caught on the attack. That monster got blown from him, swaying its tail and hitting a four armed Cyclops Monkey right on the face.
That humanoid monster woke up from its trans and shook its head, seeing the dragon after, and gave a growl. It immediately clang on one of its legs and the two wrestled as the dragon tried to shake the monster off.
“That‘s right! Cling like a virus you are!”
Siva was happily enjoying the thrill. Everything was going according to his plans and he was laughing as he punched a clawed attack from a Raptor aside as if it’s a mosquito. Then he switched to using the guns and he shot that monster point blank right in the eyes.
“Siva look out!” Samara’s voice echoed and Siva’s attention spun towards a fast approaching shadow. The dragon’s temper reached its climax and it swung its tail that took out five B-ranked monsters instantly.
Along with it was Siva who just luckily been close to the dragon so the force of the attack wasn‘t as critical as to end his life in an instant.
Still, he grimmed as he saw the remaining life in his HP bar. There were only 44% left. That last attack just chipped away a staggering 50% of his life. This reality hit Siva like a giant ice pack put directly on his teeth.
Even considering the amount of monsters that was caught in that attack served as cushion to minimize the damage on him, 50% damage on HP is still too much.
“Damn you…” He hissed as he slowly stood up.
From where he was thrown off, two B-rank monsters also survived. But suddenly, those two reverted back to their trans state, Killing Zone was activated again and this truth made the two girl’s expression grim.
Siva stepped forth and shot the nearest monster in the eye point blank. Two bullets went directly from its eye to its brain, killing it while the other also received the same fate as it failed to recover in time before Siva arrived at his place.
Right then, the dragon roared and glared at Siva and Siva in turn also glared at him.
The two glared at each other as the few remaining monsters were all taken out by Samara’s cover fire one by one. And just as the momentum was going on her side, that’s where the firing stopped.
“Oh no!” Samara exclaimed on the chat channel. “I ran out of ammo! Agatha!”
“I just healed you earlier. I’m still recovering. I can only use first aid for the next fifteen minutes.”
Samara’s expression darkened as she faced Siva’s direction and screamed. “Siva!” Then she faced Agatha below. “Siva’s in danger! He just got hit!”
But the call was now lost as Siva is plunged deeply on the thought of a duel. The glaring stopped and a duel began between a dragon and a human with astounding reality. It may seem like a dream but the roars, the loud explosions of the dragon’s attacks missing, the sound of metal hitting hardened scales, it all rang throughout the area and attracted other souls curious to its origins.
“Siva!” “Siva!”
The girls’ voices overlapped as they called.
Siva’s attack looked useless but it still had minimal damage despite not having the Air Shot along with his attacks. There was only the booster that reacts when the fist is about an inch away from the surface of its target and the hardened material of the Cassius Clay that was officially a C-Class weapon is the only weapon he had against the dragon.
Still, thanks to the damage it had fighting off all the B-ranked monsters attracted to Siva’s ability, its power and stamina had dropped by a considerable amount.
Adding the bleeding wound on the dragon’s neck, though small that wound may seem, the Ender was also still there with its ongoing Grinding function so the damage it has created had already became significant to the point that the dragon was starting to lose focus.
The Dragon Roar which could easily deal enormous damage on the enemy had lost its effectivity.
The dragon began to spit blood every time it used the attack and Siva’s observation did not escape this small detail. It made him smile and so he continued the hit and run strategy he’d been using until now.
Crazy.
This was the only word Samara and Agatha could make out of his fighting style.
Every time that Siva dodged the hair raising attack, it still had a small damage on him since he himself was already nearing his mental and physical limit.
His punches began to go weak and even though he had been successful on avoiding the attacks until now, it was still a large fact that he is fighting a creature who had superior endurance and strength from him.
And so the difference on them came clear in one very unfortunate instance.
Siva was about to lurch upward and use Air Jump to avoid a sweeping tail attack when his reaction came late and he was near missed by a few inches.
He got thrown off as he spun around in mid air for who knows how many times and he landed hard on the ground and rolled off that made Samara’s and Agatha’s heart skip a few beat. In reaction, Samara ran and left Agatha on the tree and she used her Float Magic to do a dash along with the simple technological purpose of her knee long witch’s boots.
Just like Air Jump but it was a more expensive and a more sophisticated design that uses turbine mechanics for steady and constant use instead of compressed air made for impact attacks and sudden movements.
Her dash reached Siva earlier than the dragon who turned around and aimed to rush them.
Its large head that was a fusion of lizard and wolf with whiskers and scales and golden savage eyes came as a large shadow as Samara caught Siva. She wasted no time, no pause, and no choice but to hurl him by his body, embracing him as she used the momentum of her run to flee. The clawed scaly paw hit the ground and made a crater while the two got blown off balance by a debris hitting Samara at her back.
She saved Siva but it was in exchange for a great pain in her back that chipped away 40% of her HP.
Of course it will.
She was technically a Mage so her equipments and gears were focused with MNA and INT pluses instead of defensive functions.
She hurled in pain, rolling along with Siva who then twisted his body and used a hand stand to turn and land on his feet, making a meteorite impact onto the ground.
“Siva! Samara!”
The two stopped and they were both full of injuries.
Agatha cried out on the chat line as she watched the dragon turned its massive sized body that easily reached over 60m from head to tail over to the two.
On the other hand, Siva’s eyes became blurry as the dragon’s attack made his consciousness adrift for a few seconds. But when he finally found the ground to take back his sanity, he was looking at Samara who was on the ground with him, curled out in pain. The worst part is, she had a broken arm.
“Samara…”
“Siva!” Agatha’s frantic voice echoed on the device on his ear. Thankfully the party chat line was still active and he didn’t lost his communicator device. “Get out of there fast!”
“Wait, what?”
As soon as he turned to his head, a shadow came from above them and it was aiming to bite Siva’s whole body.
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Update 30
Siva’s Roar
He tried to defend but the B-rank monster was in his best condition, maybe someone who came from the back ranks while the bigger ones fought the dragon over him. He could only gasp and wide eyed surprised as the dragon, for the umpteenth time, defended him.
It ate the B-rank monster and its friends, five in all, crushing their bodies, throwing them away, and using his spiked tail to the damage.
The event only took a mere few seconds and Siva’s heart skipped a beat every time he saw a monster got killed by the dragon’s prowess. What more, though it already had the chance and the opening to kill or eat him, it still did not bask in the treat and instead went to finish off all the B-ranked monsters around.
“S-Siva…Aaaaarrgghh…” As soon as Samara found her bearing, she tried to stand up using her broken arm but ended up falling and rolling in pain when she finally realized.
She could’ve logged off but didn’t since logging off in the field and not in a safe zone had a consequence of not being able to log in for the next 72 earth hours. And not only that, users who logged off in the middle of a fight not only lose the equipment in their 3-slot settings, they also lose all money and items they currently had in their inventory. 2
So in short, quitting when in the middle of a fight where you had a chance of dying will make Janus angry and punish you severely.
It was this settings of the central AI that controlled the world of Terroa that made some users angry. But it also promoted security from a lot of unfair adventures not happening at the same time.
“Samara!” Agatha’s voice echoed in the voice chat of the communicator. “Siva, what happened to her?!”
“She got a broken arm!”
Their communication was halted when the dragon’s rampage ended with a crushing victory over the puny little B-ranked monsters. As the view was cleared and replaced by blood and gore from the dragon’s rampage, the panting creature glared at Siva and roared victorious in their midst.
The act gave the impression of the Lion King on that pedestal rock. And his subjects all watched from the sidelines as it proved once again why dragons are to be feared inside the game.
It was a unique skill from the dragons, Intimidation, that made them kings of the forest. Even if it was just a Forest Dragon, the lowest of the dragon race, it was still a Dragon who was the most powerful mob (or boss) in RPG: Terroa.
This skill that can make players freeze within a set of time is what made dragons almost unbeatable.
Intimidation, just like the skill’s name itself, once a player hears (especially sees) a dragon execute the Pose of the King, they all gets paralyzed and ends up freezing in place for five seconds (10 for those who sees). And when the players are frozen, that’s where the dragon gets the chance to eat. In short, it was a skill made to be the dragon’s weapon against them all.
But not every soul in the vicinity was affected of the skill. There was actually one person who had enough spirit to actually defy the intimidation of the king.
As soon as a notification in his vision said [Paralysis status rejected!], he knew automatically that he was in on a special of special cases. He glanced at Agatha who then spoke, “I‘m paralyzed!” and glanced back to the steady Samara who still wore the pain expression as she held on his broken arm.
“Heal Samara!” He said and stood up.
‘What are you going to do?’ Agatha said and began to run as she pants in the background.
“I will end this.”
‘Don’t! You’ll die!’
After Agatha’s response, Samara with her hoarse tone then spoke up. “You are going for a suicide…”
“No I‘m not.” Siva said confidently and seeing that he wasn’t affected of the skill, the dragon narrowed its gleaming eyes and lowered its head like a tiger, with a dark skinned dog-lizard’s scaly dragon-like face with whiskers, as it seemed to be readying itself to attack.
Siva took a step and that’s where the ten second of paralysis ended that enabled Samara to shakily stand.
She called out to Siva but he didn’t look back. The wind came from the North-Eastern side and the sol that shined down on Terroa came to a 4 P.M. position that gave him a boost of artistic coolness. Siva’s shirt who got torn up from the fighting fluttered and it looked like a cape as he steadied his bearing.
He faced the dragon’s imposing posture with casual steps and Samara continued to call out to him even after Agatha reached and healed her arm with Regenerate.
“You can’t win alone!”
She shouted but Siva ignored her as he manipulated his equipment settings and fixed back the third weapons options into the twin guns. After that, he closed his character window while never once averting his eyes on the dragon.
He said, “I am not alone.” and leaned back. “Think about it, Samara, we’ve been fighting together since the very beginning.”
“Siva!”
“Take her back, Agatha. This dragon won‘t let us go even I escape here. It set me up as its trophy. Even if we do fight it together, it would take you guys down first before it satisfies itself for a one on one fight with me.”
“But that’s…”
“That‘s only fair, Samara. Besides…can‘t you see?”
“Huh?”
At his prompt, Samara and Agatha exchanged looks and Siva pulled leaned his head to them as he opened his arms wide. “He‘s waiting for me to finish my last words with you guys.”
When the girls finally realized his point, they were left with no choice but to stare at his back as he went to continue his casual walk.
And then, Agatha made a last gamble and emptied her MNA points to zero (which also has a penalty of 90 seconds before starting to regenerate) and healed Siva from behind.
“You win this thing.” She could only say.
Without turning his head or stopping his steps, Siva stretched out his left arm and made an “okay” sign that left her smiling while Samara still remained anxious.
They ran back up to where Agatha was once hiding before and they were greeted by a group of hunters who had faces with shocked and anxious expressions.
But these are far from where Siva’s thoughts were all directed. To be precise, his eyes were straight looking at the dragon. The two of them were glaring at each other.
No movements, just a glaring contest.
Siva lowered his center of gravity, no weapons were visible, just the brownish red colored Cassius Clay on his arms that stretched from knuckles to elbow.
The dragon in kind remained on his hunting position and it tucked in his wings as a seemingly shadow of a wicked monstrous smile were drawn to its mouth. He’d have to be dreaming if it was but Siva didn’t care since he too was smiling and feeling the enjoyment of this one moment where he faced a maybe once in a lifetime experience of fighting a dragon one on one.
At that, he recalled the restraints, limitations, adds and cons, the scale of his wicked ability, triggers that activates the ability, and the conditions that activates it.
And as soon as he did, his body moved on its own as he started to walk towards the dragon.
Killing Zone
—within 100m radius, the user can call a monster horde
Effects:
1 Lowers the monsters’ defenses by 70%
2 Grants the gift ability, temporarily.
2.1 Exclusive to 100% SPR unique skills holder
2.1.1 Depends on needs at the moment
2.1.2 Consumes 80 manna
2.1.3 Only lasts until midnight that day
Conditions:
1 It only works on opponents recognized as enemies
2 It is a passive skill activated by agitation
3 Calls monsters the same rank as the user
4 No limits to monsters that can be summoned
After all these information entered his mind, he then recalled the circumstances where it all happened, how it happened, how it affected him, and how it pulled him up until the current situation. This ability gave him the power as well as the curse that he needed, a step closer to where he needed to be.
It went all in a fast forward motion, vividly clear and somehow felt easier to do and experience all over again.
He inhaled deep and released it.
He remembered his first fights where he still didn’t have Cassius Clay. Those were the moments where he had been given the Gift of Endurance. And he survived the head aching battle between those monsters that was actually above his capabilities. He used stones, sticks, even grass and rodents to trick the monsters to their deaths in his hands.
And on other days of his hunting, he was given the Gift of Power, the Gift of Stamina, Gift of Charisma, the Gift of Speed, and the Gift of Durability. But he never experienced having the Gift of Wisdom and the Gift of Energy since it belonged in the Mage class of users (though there actually are no classes and jobs in Terroa). And there was also the Gift of Constitution, at which was actually used by archers.
But it was all clear to him.
He remembered it all; those times where he’d almost died during a fight, alone in the forest, surrounded by countless monsters, struggling to live, with only a few HP left, bruised, beaten, injured, bleeding…dying…he remembered it all as if it was a few hours ago.
Close eyed, Siva inhaled and exhaled calmly. Arms wide and smiling while walking casually towards the dragon, the creature retaliated with a roar along with his Pose of the King that activated the unique skill that only those S-ranked and above ranked monsters had.
But while the souls who watched the climax of this brawl came into an abrupt stop of movements, he alone was unaffected by that terrifying ability.
He continued to walk casually. Every step was small and very much like walking in the park. But to the large beast who saw the stretch of his adversary’s strength, he started to move his head like a cowering rat, or a bat, who was being blinded by the light.
Their distance to each other shrank to a mere thirty meters. Then twenty. And finally, Siva stopped.
“Enemy…” He hissed and slowly opened his eyes.
The dragon looked at those eyes and roared angrily. A gust of wind came from where the dragon was and it was there that he lunged to bite Siva’s head.
Siva clapped his hands when he the dragon came and his fearless stance and his sudden act almost took the air on every spectator’s chests. The dragon welcomed the full impact of Siva’s attack and it took a few steps back groggily. But Siva did not stop there. He used his other leg to Air Jump and climbed up on the dragon’s head using his own whiskers.
That made him land on the dragon’s head, flipped in mid air, and kicked right where it was supposed to have ears. The dragon staggered and stepped back again and Siva, while in mid air, summoned Eibon and Steve, his twin guns, and emptied their magazines on the dragon’s head.
When he landed, he tried to call out on monsters again, willingly, but only four Cyclops Monkeys came.
“That‘s enough…” He hissed and used the dragon’s left shoulder to climb up, jump on the monster’s neck, and grabbed on tight to the Ender’s hilt there.
ROOOOAAARRRR…
The dragon angrily as it tried to shake him off. The B-ranked monsters began to attack it, aiming for Siva, but he skillfully avoided them in exchange for a lot of effort and a head splitting pain on his temple.
Siva groaned every time he was swayed hard but the Cyclops Monkeys continued to attack the dragon while the latter was still affected by Siva’s last attack.
It swung its tail, one monster was hit at the back and died. It roared angrily, the monsters froze, and when it opened its eyes, it trampled on two more monsters and blew off the last by slamming his body to it.
In the process, Siva was also blown off his position but he also pulled off the Ender and luckily landed on the ground on his fours. He used the sword to stab the ground and steady himself, making a skidding mark on the brown colored soil.
GRAAAAWRR…
The dragon roared again as he shook his head and tried to focus its eyes on Siva. Siva smiled and saw the Cyclops Monkey getting up, went towards it, stabbed it on the spine, then led it slamming its miniscule body to the dragon.
His plan worked as the dragon used its head to bite off the monster but Siva jumped and clapped hi hands that created a barrier of pure wind pressure between the dragon and the monster. The latter died as its eyes went up but the dragon lifted its head as if it received a large uppercut.
Along with the painful groan of the creature, its dull reaction of randomly clawing whatever’s up front got Siva by surprise and he used the sword to shield himself from the attack.
He got blown off, his HP shrank to mere 40% from a full 100 and Agatha gasped as tears started to flow in her eyes.
It was an epic battle.
Siva didn’t stop his movements, he roared and yelled on the dragon and the dragon shook its head as blood was flowing from its neck and its mouth.
The attacks are now taking its toll on the dragon and Siva was starting to feel that his chances of winning is getting near. But then again, his body was aching. His head was like being split open, his vision was getting so blurry, he was seeing the dragon in twos.
But he still tried to stand up. He used the sword to help himself, kneeled down on one knee and watched as the dragon spit out red dragon blood from its mouth.
Its neck was bleeding continuously because of Siva and had his last short stay there. He used the Ender to widen up the wound he caused earlier and since it was a defenseless area of the dragon, the critical damage it had on him was now taking its toll.
What more, Siva used his strongest attack on the dragon two times, its brain should be shaken up to its core and its eyes should be blurry from the blockaded blood on its head.
Still, the dragon remained majestically prideful as it did his dragon pose and roared that put everyone else around frozen.
“Hahaha…It‘s not gonna work on me!” Siva shouted and he roared and ran towards the dragon with all his might. “RAAAAAAAA….”
The dragon also took the challenge and though still staggering, went to meet the last and final bout.
It used its Dragon Roar and large black bullets came at Siva in super speed. But he already saw it before, had memorized the actions of the dragon before it used the ability and while it inhaled deep as its only preparation, Siva already jumped twice in midair to dodge.
Though the dragon saw him and tried to follow his climb, the Dragon Roar attack already ended and he had no air in his lungs to support a follow up attack.
Siva used this opportunity to throw the Ender to the dragon, hoping that its defenses were drained down to the lowest, enough to stab through its thick skull.
Luckily it did. But since it was a dragon with super high defense and naturally thick scales, the Ender didn’t really stabbed that deep. But the attack still gave Siva an opening. Since the dragon followed his movements upward, its head was eventually inclined facing him.
As he had thrown the dragon his sword its head naturally leaned aside to reduce the pain. That was the opening.
The dragon’s eyes were closed at that moment and so Siva quickly switched back to Cassius Clay, used his left arm to punch the air behind him, and gave him the boost on his way down. He then twisted his body and clenched his right fist the hardest.
“DIEEEEEEEEEEEE…!!!”
The dragon opened its eyes, mouth open wide, and its black cat eyes in golden iris focused on Siva as he looked at the face of the man his eyes last saw that day.
BOOM!
Siva’s Roar
He tried to defend but the B-rank monster was in his best condition, maybe someone who came from the back ranks while the bigger ones fought the dragon over him. He could only gasp and wide eyed surprised as the dragon, for the umpteenth time, defended him.
It ate the B-rank monster and its friends, five in all, crushing their bodies, throwing them away, and using his spiked tail to the damage.
The event only took a mere few seconds and Siva’s heart skipped a beat every time he saw a monster got killed by the dragon’s prowess. What more, though it already had the chance and the opening to kill or eat him, it still did not bask in the treat and instead went to finish off all the B-ranked monsters around.
“S-Siva…Aaaaarrgghh…” As soon as Samara found her bearing, she tried to stand up using her broken arm but ended up falling and rolling in pain when she finally realized.
She could’ve logged off but didn’t since logging off in the field and not in a safe zone had a consequence of not being able to log in for the next 72 earth hours. And not only that, users who logged off in the middle of a fight not only lose the equipment in their 3-slot settings, they also lose all money and items they currently had in their inventory. 2
So in short, quitting when in the middle of a fight where you had a chance of dying will make Janus angry and punish you severely.
It was this settings of the central AI that controlled the world of Terroa that made some users angry. But it also promoted security from a lot of unfair adventures not happening at the same time.
“Samara!” Agatha’s voice echoed in the voice chat of the communicator. “Siva, what happened to her?!”
“She got a broken arm!”
Their communication was halted when the dragon’s rampage ended with a crushing victory over the puny little B-ranked monsters. As the view was cleared and replaced by blood and gore from the dragon’s rampage, the panting creature glared at Siva and roared victorious in their midst.
The act gave the impression of the Lion King on that pedestal rock. And his subjects all watched from the sidelines as it proved once again why dragons are to be feared inside the game.
It was a unique skill from the dragons, Intimidation, that made them kings of the forest. Even if it was just a Forest Dragon, the lowest of the dragon race, it was still a Dragon who was the most powerful mob (or boss) in RPG: Terroa.
This skill that can make players freeze within a set of time is what made dragons almost unbeatable.
Intimidation, just like the skill’s name itself, once a player hears (especially sees) a dragon execute the Pose of the King, they all gets paralyzed and ends up freezing in place for five seconds (10 for those who sees). And when the players are frozen, that’s where the dragon gets the chance to eat. In short, it was a skill made to be the dragon’s weapon against them all.
But not every soul in the vicinity was affected of the skill. There was actually one person who had enough spirit to actually defy the intimidation of the king.
As soon as a notification in his vision said [Paralysis status rejected!], he knew automatically that he was in on a special of special cases. He glanced at Agatha who then spoke, “I‘m paralyzed!” and glanced back to the steady Samara who still wore the pain expression as she held on his broken arm.
“Heal Samara!” He said and stood up.
‘What are you going to do?’ Agatha said and began to run as she pants in the background.
“I will end this.”
‘Don’t! You’ll die!’
After Agatha’s response, Samara with her hoarse tone then spoke up. “You are going for a suicide…”
“No I‘m not.” Siva said confidently and seeing that he wasn’t affected of the skill, the dragon narrowed its gleaming eyes and lowered its head like a tiger, with a dark skinned dog-lizard’s scaly dragon-like face with whiskers, as it seemed to be readying itself to attack.
Siva took a step and that’s where the ten second of paralysis ended that enabled Samara to shakily stand.
She called out to Siva but he didn’t look back. The wind came from the North-Eastern side and the sol that shined down on Terroa came to a 4 P.M. position that gave him a boost of artistic coolness. Siva’s shirt who got torn up from the fighting fluttered and it looked like a cape as he steadied his bearing.
He faced the dragon’s imposing posture with casual steps and Samara continued to call out to him even after Agatha reached and healed her arm with Regenerate.
“You can’t win alone!”
She shouted but Siva ignored her as he manipulated his equipment settings and fixed back the third weapons options into the twin guns. After that, he closed his character window while never once averting his eyes on the dragon.
He said, “I am not alone.” and leaned back. “Think about it, Samara, we’ve been fighting together since the very beginning.”
“Siva!”
“Take her back, Agatha. This dragon won‘t let us go even I escape here. It set me up as its trophy. Even if we do fight it together, it would take you guys down first before it satisfies itself for a one on one fight with me.”
“But that’s…”
“That‘s only fair, Samara. Besides…can‘t you see?”
“Huh?”
At his prompt, Samara and Agatha exchanged looks and Siva pulled leaned his head to them as he opened his arms wide. “He‘s waiting for me to finish my last words with you guys.”
When the girls finally realized his point, they were left with no choice but to stare at his back as he went to continue his casual walk.
And then, Agatha made a last gamble and emptied her MNA points to zero (which also has a penalty of 90 seconds before starting to regenerate) and healed Siva from behind.
“You win this thing.” She could only say.
Without turning his head or stopping his steps, Siva stretched out his left arm and made an “okay” sign that left her smiling while Samara still remained anxious.
They ran back up to where Agatha was once hiding before and they were greeted by a group of hunters who had faces with shocked and anxious expressions.
But these are far from where Siva’s thoughts were all directed. To be precise, his eyes were straight looking at the dragon. The two of them were glaring at each other.
No movements, just a glaring contest.
Siva lowered his center of gravity, no weapons were visible, just the brownish red colored Cassius Clay on his arms that stretched from knuckles to elbow.
The dragon in kind remained on his hunting position and it tucked in his wings as a seemingly shadow of a wicked monstrous smile were drawn to its mouth. He’d have to be dreaming if it was but Siva didn’t care since he too was smiling and feeling the enjoyment of this one moment where he faced a maybe once in a lifetime experience of fighting a dragon one on one.
At that, he recalled the restraints, limitations, adds and cons, the scale of his wicked ability, triggers that activates the ability, and the conditions that activates it.
And as soon as he did, his body moved on its own as he started to walk towards the dragon.
Killing Zone
—within 100m radius, the user can call a monster horde
Effects:
1 Lowers the monsters’ defenses by 70%
2 Grants the gift ability, temporarily.
2.1 Exclusive to 100% SPR unique skills holder
2.1.1 Depends on needs at the moment
2.1.2 Consumes 80 manna
2.1.3 Only lasts until midnight that day
Conditions:
1 It only works on opponents recognized as enemies
2 It is a passive skill activated by agitation
3 Calls monsters the same rank as the user
4 No limits to monsters that can be summoned
After all these information entered his mind, he then recalled the circumstances where it all happened, how it happened, how it affected him, and how it pulled him up until the current situation. This ability gave him the power as well as the curse that he needed, a step closer to where he needed to be.
It went all in a fast forward motion, vividly clear and somehow felt easier to do and experience all over again.
He inhaled deep and released it.
He remembered his first fights where he still didn’t have Cassius Clay. Those were the moments where he had been given the Gift of Endurance. And he survived the head aching battle between those monsters that was actually above his capabilities. He used stones, sticks, even grass and rodents to trick the monsters to their deaths in his hands.
And on other days of his hunting, he was given the Gift of Power, the Gift of Stamina, Gift of Charisma, the Gift of Speed, and the Gift of Durability. But he never experienced having the Gift of Wisdom and the Gift of Energy since it belonged in the Mage class of users (though there actually are no classes and jobs in Terroa). And there was also the Gift of Constitution, at which was actually used by archers.
But it was all clear to him.
He remembered it all; those times where he’d almost died during a fight, alone in the forest, surrounded by countless monsters, struggling to live, with only a few HP left, bruised, beaten, injured, bleeding…dying…he remembered it all as if it was a few hours ago.
Close eyed, Siva inhaled and exhaled calmly. Arms wide and smiling while walking casually towards the dragon, the creature retaliated with a roar along with his Pose of the King that activated the unique skill that only those S-ranked and above ranked monsters had.
But while the souls who watched the climax of this brawl came into an abrupt stop of movements, he alone was unaffected by that terrifying ability.
He continued to walk casually. Every step was small and very much like walking in the park. But to the large beast who saw the stretch of his adversary’s strength, he started to move his head like a cowering rat, or a bat, who was being blinded by the light.
Their distance to each other shrank to a mere thirty meters. Then twenty. And finally, Siva stopped.
“Enemy…” He hissed and slowly opened his eyes.
The dragon looked at those eyes and roared angrily. A gust of wind came from where the dragon was and it was there that he lunged to bite Siva’s head.
Siva clapped his hands when he the dragon came and his fearless stance and his sudden act almost took the air on every spectator’s chests. The dragon welcomed the full impact of Siva’s attack and it took a few steps back groggily. But Siva did not stop there. He used his other leg to Air Jump and climbed up on the dragon’s head using his own whiskers.
That made him land on the dragon’s head, flipped in mid air, and kicked right where it was supposed to have ears. The dragon staggered and stepped back again and Siva, while in mid air, summoned Eibon and Steve, his twin guns, and emptied their magazines on the dragon’s head.
When he landed, he tried to call out on monsters again, willingly, but only four Cyclops Monkeys came.
“That‘s enough…” He hissed and used the dragon’s left shoulder to climb up, jump on the monster’s neck, and grabbed on tight to the Ender’s hilt there.
ROOOOAAARRRR…
The dragon angrily as it tried to shake him off. The B-ranked monsters began to attack it, aiming for Siva, but he skillfully avoided them in exchange for a lot of effort and a head splitting pain on his temple.
Siva groaned every time he was swayed hard but the Cyclops Monkeys continued to attack the dragon while the latter was still affected by Siva’s last attack.
It swung its tail, one monster was hit at the back and died. It roared angrily, the monsters froze, and when it opened its eyes, it trampled on two more monsters and blew off the last by slamming his body to it.
In the process, Siva was also blown off his position but he also pulled off the Ender and luckily landed on the ground on his fours. He used the sword to stab the ground and steady himself, making a skidding mark on the brown colored soil.
GRAAAAWRR…
The dragon roared again as he shook his head and tried to focus its eyes on Siva. Siva smiled and saw the Cyclops Monkey getting up, went towards it, stabbed it on the spine, then led it slamming its miniscule body to the dragon.
His plan worked as the dragon used its head to bite off the monster but Siva jumped and clapped hi hands that created a barrier of pure wind pressure between the dragon and the monster. The latter died as its eyes went up but the dragon lifted its head as if it received a large uppercut.
Along with the painful groan of the creature, its dull reaction of randomly clawing whatever’s up front got Siva by surprise and he used the sword to shield himself from the attack.
He got blown off, his HP shrank to mere 40% from a full 100 and Agatha gasped as tears started to flow in her eyes.
It was an epic battle.
Siva didn’t stop his movements, he roared and yelled on the dragon and the dragon shook its head as blood was flowing from its neck and its mouth.
The attacks are now taking its toll on the dragon and Siva was starting to feel that his chances of winning is getting near. But then again, his body was aching. His head was like being split open, his vision was getting so blurry, he was seeing the dragon in twos.
But he still tried to stand up. He used the sword to help himself, kneeled down on one knee and watched as the dragon spit out red dragon blood from its mouth.
Its neck was bleeding continuously because of Siva and had his last short stay there. He used the Ender to widen up the wound he caused earlier and since it was a defenseless area of the dragon, the critical damage it had on him was now taking its toll.
What more, Siva used his strongest attack on the dragon two times, its brain should be shaken up to its core and its eyes should be blurry from the blockaded blood on its head.
Still, the dragon remained majestically prideful as it did his dragon pose and roared that put everyone else around frozen.
“Hahaha…It‘s not gonna work on me!” Siva shouted and he roared and ran towards the dragon with all his might. “RAAAAAAAA….”
The dragon also took the challenge and though still staggering, went to meet the last and final bout.
It used its Dragon Roar and large black bullets came at Siva in super speed. But he already saw it before, had memorized the actions of the dragon before it used the ability and while it inhaled deep as its only preparation, Siva already jumped twice in midair to dodge.
Though the dragon saw him and tried to follow his climb, the Dragon Roar attack already ended and he had no air in his lungs to support a follow up attack.
Siva used this opportunity to throw the Ender to the dragon, hoping that its defenses were drained down to the lowest, enough to stab through its thick skull.
Luckily it did. But since it was a dragon with super high defense and naturally thick scales, the Ender didn’t really stabbed that deep. But the attack still gave Siva an opening. Since the dragon followed his movements upward, its head was eventually inclined facing him.
As he had thrown the dragon his sword its head naturally leaned aside to reduce the pain. That was the opening.
The dragon’s eyes were closed at that moment and so Siva quickly switched back to Cassius Clay, used his left arm to punch the air behind him, and gave him the boost on his way down. He then twisted his body and clenched his right fist the hardest.
“DIEEEEEEEEEEEE…!!!”
The dragon opened its eyes, mouth open wide, and its black cat eyes in golden iris focused on Siva as he looked at the face of the man his eyes last saw that day.
BOOM!
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Update 31
The Reaping
Aldrin Eclaire’s eyes widened in surprise and tears began to fall on them as he saw the small sealed box that Siva presented him. +
His old hands caressed the edges and details of the box while recalling the days of his lively youth when he first saw its contents.
“Open it.” He told Siva and raised the box. “Open it so we can be free of this curse.”
Though in doubts and while Andrea pursed her lips and nodded at Siva’s probing glance, Siva pulled the simple lock and was surprised to its contents.
“What the F….” His eyes were full of anger. Full of disappointment. Full of discontent. Full of what could only be spoken in his mouth as, “I can‘t believe I came all this way just to get a copy of Clemente‘s Demise.”
“Wait,” Volt called out to the old man. “I really can‘t understand this situation…”
But the old man had a smile on his lips, shook his head and said, “Open the book and you‘ll see it.”
Siva did not wait for any more time and opened it. And just as his instincts told him, as he flipped every page, there was no difference from the copy the library had and the one in his hands.
“I don‘t understand…” He said anxiously.
At that, Andrea explained. “Find the Providence.”
“What is the Providence?!” Siva was now irritated.
“The Providence is a weapon.” At those words, Siva was dumbstruck. Watching Andrea’s expression the old man put a hand on her palm on his shoulders and kept on in her explanation. “My family‘s secret, this novel, it had all the answers to the wrong history written in the Book of Legends.”
TING!
At that moment, as soon as her sentence ended, in their visions, a shocking notification popped up. And upon reading it, Siva could only smile as he had in his hands the first step on the river of lava he was in.
[H-Class Information Acquired!]
“The Founding of an Empire”
Long ago, there was the Legendary Hero, Clemente, who had so many achievements, including the founding of The Empire of Tiara.
Rumors of his dark ambitions were scattered and the link on his mysterious death had been shrouded in darkness. But throughout the history, there was one clan who held the secret on these rumors and now, that secret is ready to be revealed in the world.
“Find the Providence.” The old man snapped Siva’s attention back to his feet from his mind. “This message was left to me by my father and was left to him by his father, that was left to him by his father and the father before him…”
“But when grandfather joined the military, and father died before he even held that secret, I feared that the secret will be lost forever so I hid the clues in this box and hoped that some day, people would finally find the keys to unlock this quest.”
“Quest?” Siva’s brows curled in confusion.
Andrea Eclaire looked at him and nodded. “Yes. The Providence is a weapon. That‘s all I know. The secret lies in this book.” And Andrea pushed the old book on Siva’s hands on his chest.
“So the quest to find this secret starts by finding this book?”
On Volt’s question, Siva added, “So is the rumor of the map in this novel true? A map that will lead to vast amounts of treasure? A treasure map?”
“I‘m not sure.” Andrea shook his head.
“But you said that you will tell us the secret…”
That’s where Siva got another hit in the forehead. “I told you that when you bring me the package, I will tell you what you needed to know. I said that clearly or your ears were just there to make you look human?”
Siva pouted as he caressed his forehead. Though the attack did not chipped any HP, it still hurt.
The following conversation after that led to some of the confirmations they had to ask. One of which is that a novel of the old times were treated as treasures of the literary world so showing it in public may lead to huge problems from the government. Though it really felt like a trick in their hearts, Siva and the gang concluded that it was still worth their trouble.
“Farewell, young warrior. And I do hope that you uncover this secret and correct the flow of history.”
Siva nodded and to the old man and held out an open palm. “Live longer, sir.”
And Aldrin Eclaire smiled and shook the hand. “I am looking forward to the future.”
[Mission Accomplished]
+10 Free Stat Points
+20 to Weight Limit
Earned Title: Dragon Hunter
Accept Title?
(Yes?) — (No?)
Exclaims exploded on their group as soon as they saw the notification window that popped up on their visions. The semi-silver holographic panel showed the message in clear metallic grey letters and everyone had their own unified agreement after they exchanged looks with each other.
“Whoa!” Asked Hawkeye with a smile. “So B-rank missions give away free stat points?!”
“Who would have thought?!” Samara was laughing.
“This is really a fulfilling mission.” Agatha seconded and she glanced over at Siva. Seeing his reaction, “Hey what’s wrong?”
At her prompt, Siva pressed (No) at the confirmation prompt. Since the notification window is a party wide report, they all saw it and frowned.
Hawkeye approached and asked, “Why no?”
“I don‘t like it.” He said and walked on towards the Trading Center. “I only want one title for myself and until I get that title, I won‘t be entertaining any other title to my name.”
After Siva’s explanation, Volt and the others looked at each other and shrugged.
“Well, that‘s our star player.” Volt teased as Agatha chuckled that made Siva blush.
“Star player.” She repeated and Samara did the same.
Hawkeye ran over to Siva and slapped his shoulder with a heavy hand. For an archer, adding more points to strength can make you pull the string further than those normal stat archers. And at that, also, it adds something to normal actions such as these.
“Ouch! Are you even a woman?!”
“Haha…star player.”
Siva pouted and narrowed his eyes. When they got to where his Portable Expendable Truck is, it was already surrounded by people. Most of them were fussing about the reason why one of the two was moving.
“Trouble.” Hawkeye said.
Siva looked at his group and manipulated his gears to the masked settings. Since it doesn’t belong to his three defaults, he had to manually operate his gears.
Because of the bonus points in weight limits, he can now wear the mask, the cloak, and Cassius Clay at the same time. That was a good bonus. Even for the very famous adventurers like Volt and his group, it was also a first for them to learn that B-rank missions can give rewards.
But then again, the hurdle they had to pass wasn’t an easy one. More like, it was just tough luck that they were able to finish it and still live on.
Siva and them approached their legged truck and Siva went to the one that was shaking from inside.
He opened the trunk entrance and the NPC Trading Manager approached him.
“So you are the owner eh?”
“Yes.” Siva answered since his upper face from nose to his eyes were covered by a white mask.
“A live specimen.” The trader, a middle aged man in knight uniform with a large scar on his forehead that went down to his left eye to his cheek nodded with a smile to him. “Not many hunters are skilled enough to be able to trap one. Well then, open it up.”
As soon as he opened the cargo doors, jaws started dropped and eyes widened in surprise.
Then the trader, a human, spoke in shock, “For the love of God, how did you…”
“It‘s a long story.” Siva said and smiled. “How much will I get with a live dragon?”
***
Loni was chatting with her friends, those that has the same interests in writing novels as her, when Thorn’s name popped up on her screen.
[42:05 You won‘t believe your eyes.]
Thorn’s message piqued her interest and when she opened the email, there was an attached net link. So she clicked the link and her browser went to utube.com and a video started to play.
“42 minutes?”
She could have ignored it but as the minutes and the seconds approached the time allotted by Thorn to watch out for, she saw the reason why she would be shocked and also surprised.
She knew that face, Volt, the most famous explorer.
His name was famous not because he was one of the premier adventurers in Central Continent but because he was the very first engineer to actually accomplish the task that their engineers had been trying to do.
Volt “The Slayer” was the first engineer to defeat an S-ranked monster on his own using the equipments he invented himself. But then, 42:05 is yet to come.
Why 42 minutes…?
As she asked herself this question, 42 minutes and 5 seconds of the video came and she gasped.
It was a familiar face of a long haired man talking to Volt’s group and was laughing with them. But then, when the long haired man saw the person taking the video, a notification window popped up on his vision.
It was in 42:05 time allocated.
[You are inside the Killing Zone. Your defenses are reduced by 70%]
As she read the notification, one party member shot the nanobot recording the video and the video was cut.
She knew that long haired guy.
The Destroyer.
“But…Volt and…and him?!”
In her shock, she paused the video and played it over and over again. She held her breath to steady herself as she counted from the very beginning until the end of the video just how many monsters did they actually kill.
But what actually caught her attention was the one big black lump of moving flesh behind The Destroyer.
Though it was just caught slightly on the camera, the clear silhouette of a huge monster was clearly seen.
“What is that?”
As her count reached 205 in total numbers of dead monsters, all of which are B-ranked monsters, she went on her account and told her friends she‘s going in.
The video spanned for four hours, edited, and even thought the faces of those five people weren’t clear, for those who recognized them from their silhouette and their equipments, there was no doubt that this spelled a sort of premonition that would affect them in the future.
Especially for the still yet to be launched Guild, the Tower of Sol.
Without any further ado, she logged in on the game and was immediately greeted by the offline emails.
And upon reading them one by one, the messages are all the same. They wanted her to come to the HQ as soon as she logged in. And so she did.
Upon entering their HQ…
“Thorn!” Loni yelled and the ten people in there all looked at her with anxiety. “What‘s going on?!”
“It‘s as you‘ve seen, and also, we were just in the middle of discussing it over. Please join us.” Thorn’s expression wasn’t any better than her. More like, as the Guild’s leader, he was the one who’s more anxious than anyone else.
“Just who is that other guy?” Asked the Atlas Sword Mage in the room, Hubert.
“Volt added another monster on his group.” Said an archer, Cramer. “That guy‘s crazy!”
“I agree!” Said Fuma who was sitting cross-armed on Thorn‘s left side. “When I saw that fight for the first time, I felt goosebumps creep all over my body.”
“But who is he?” Asked Hubert and as if being an Atlas Race Sword Mage affected his character, his gaze seemed to add to the mysteriousness of his dark robe and semi armor appearance. “You seem to know him well Thorn, please explain. Is he going to be some block on our plans in the future?”
“I‘m not sure.” Answered Thorn. “But the one thing I can tell is that no one can force that guy to join any group. Though he may give out some motives, we can be sure that he is not part of the Masked Organization.”
“But then why should we be aware of this guy?”
On Cramer’s question, another Archer from the Gonn Race added, “More importantly, why are you very watchful with this man?” that made the rest of the people in the room look at Thorn then to Loni who was standing on his right back side.
At that, Fuma looked at Thorn, and Thorn let go of a long held breath as he started to explain.
“Actually, from our very short meeting, I knew then that that person is going to be a strong player. There is no doubt about that, especially now that you saw how he fights. But what I‘m actually worried about is his goal. If I interpret correctly, his goal and the Masked Organization’s goal doesn‘t differ much.”
“Actually,” Fuma immediately added. “Their only probable difference is that he supposedly works alone.”
“Supposedly?” Cramer raised a brow.
“Yeah. It‘s because when we invited him over to our side, he refused with all possible reasons and had this sort of conviction that no one can actually cop up with him…probably because of his ability.”
Hubert then interrupted, “Speaking of ability…”
“Yes.” Thorn nodded cross-armed. “Killing Zone. I have never heard of such ability before. It‘s probably a Unique Ability.”
“And it‘s a dangerous ability at that.” Fuma added with a finger of conviction. Then Thorn continued.
“But his skills are real combat skills. That‘s why I foresaw that he‘s going to be a problem in the future.”
Upon hearing Thorn’s comments, the room became silent and they all cross-armed nodded. And it was then that Loni took the initiative and discuss what their main problem is.
“But we can‘t leave the fact that The Destroyer had joined Volt‘s party. This could lead to a tumor in our future plans.”
Again, the people fell into silence.
The next moment, Thorn spoke up. “I think it‘s now time for us to move.”
“But the war in the west…” Fuma tried to object but was stopped by Thorn’s hand.
“Espada is a large continent. TGG and the Sylph’s war is not going to affect much our plans. Though what I’m actually afraid of is placed on what would happen during and after the war.”
“I feel that the enemies are planning something.”
“How can you say that?”
Loni who got the attention from Hubert‘s question gave an open palm as she explained slowly. “The Black Group had also been keeping their silence for a while now. I believe that they are planning to stir up another problem that would endanger the balance.”
Thorn’s hands clenched in the table. “That‘s why I feel that we have to move quickly.”
“Hmmm…” Hubert was closed eyed with a face that told them of his serious thoughts. “If we officially launch now, the Masked Organization and the Black Group will simply not stand by. They knew our threat but I‘m afraid a war would lead from our decision.”
“Now I understand how you‘re feeling Thorn.”
Thorn kept his silence after Cramer’s comment. He then looked at the frozen image on his vision which showed the familiar silhouette of The Destroyer and he sighed before he spoke up.
“We have no choice. Can we contact him?”
The question was directed to Fuma. “I’ve tracked the location of the video to Hagonoy. We have people we can order there to keep an eye on the target.”
“Alright. Remind them to keep it stealthy. We never know, they might provoke him. Tell them to wait until we arrive.”
Hubert stared at Thorn wearing a discontented kind of expression. And those eyes lasted for a few more moments until he averted them to the table’s edge.
Just why is he so wary of this Destroyer?
The Reaping
Aldrin Eclaire’s eyes widened in surprise and tears began to fall on them as he saw the small sealed box that Siva presented him. +
His old hands caressed the edges and details of the box while recalling the days of his lively youth when he first saw its contents.
“Open it.” He told Siva and raised the box. “Open it so we can be free of this curse.”
Though in doubts and while Andrea pursed her lips and nodded at Siva’s probing glance, Siva pulled the simple lock and was surprised to its contents.
“What the F….” His eyes were full of anger. Full of disappointment. Full of discontent. Full of what could only be spoken in his mouth as, “I can‘t believe I came all this way just to get a copy of Clemente‘s Demise.”
“Wait,” Volt called out to the old man. “I really can‘t understand this situation…”
But the old man had a smile on his lips, shook his head and said, “Open the book and you‘ll see it.”
Siva did not wait for any more time and opened it. And just as his instincts told him, as he flipped every page, there was no difference from the copy the library had and the one in his hands.
“I don‘t understand…” He said anxiously.
At that, Andrea explained. “Find the Providence.”
“What is the Providence?!” Siva was now irritated.
“The Providence is a weapon.” At those words, Siva was dumbstruck. Watching Andrea’s expression the old man put a hand on her palm on his shoulders and kept on in her explanation. “My family‘s secret, this novel, it had all the answers to the wrong history written in the Book of Legends.”
TING!
At that moment, as soon as her sentence ended, in their visions, a shocking notification popped up. And upon reading it, Siva could only smile as he had in his hands the first step on the river of lava he was in.
[H-Class Information Acquired!]
“The Founding of an Empire”
Long ago, there was the Legendary Hero, Clemente, who had so many achievements, including the founding of The Empire of Tiara.
Rumors of his dark ambitions were scattered and the link on his mysterious death had been shrouded in darkness. But throughout the history, there was one clan who held the secret on these rumors and now, that secret is ready to be revealed in the world.
“Find the Providence.” The old man snapped Siva’s attention back to his feet from his mind. “This message was left to me by my father and was left to him by his father, that was left to him by his father and the father before him…”
“But when grandfather joined the military, and father died before he even held that secret, I feared that the secret will be lost forever so I hid the clues in this box and hoped that some day, people would finally find the keys to unlock this quest.”
“Quest?” Siva’s brows curled in confusion.
Andrea Eclaire looked at him and nodded. “Yes. The Providence is a weapon. That‘s all I know. The secret lies in this book.” And Andrea pushed the old book on Siva’s hands on his chest.
“So the quest to find this secret starts by finding this book?”
On Volt’s question, Siva added, “So is the rumor of the map in this novel true? A map that will lead to vast amounts of treasure? A treasure map?”
“I‘m not sure.” Andrea shook his head.
“But you said that you will tell us the secret…”
That’s where Siva got another hit in the forehead. “I told you that when you bring me the package, I will tell you what you needed to know. I said that clearly or your ears were just there to make you look human?”
Siva pouted as he caressed his forehead. Though the attack did not chipped any HP, it still hurt.
The following conversation after that led to some of the confirmations they had to ask. One of which is that a novel of the old times were treated as treasures of the literary world so showing it in public may lead to huge problems from the government. Though it really felt like a trick in their hearts, Siva and the gang concluded that it was still worth their trouble.
“Farewell, young warrior. And I do hope that you uncover this secret and correct the flow of history.”
Siva nodded and to the old man and held out an open palm. “Live longer, sir.”
And Aldrin Eclaire smiled and shook the hand. “I am looking forward to the future.”
[Mission Accomplished]
+10 Free Stat Points
+20 to Weight Limit
Earned Title: Dragon Hunter
Accept Title?
(Yes?) — (No?)
Exclaims exploded on their group as soon as they saw the notification window that popped up on their visions. The semi-silver holographic panel showed the message in clear metallic grey letters and everyone had their own unified agreement after they exchanged looks with each other.
“Whoa!” Asked Hawkeye with a smile. “So B-rank missions give away free stat points?!”
“Who would have thought?!” Samara was laughing.
“This is really a fulfilling mission.” Agatha seconded and she glanced over at Siva. Seeing his reaction, “Hey what’s wrong?”
At her prompt, Siva pressed (No) at the confirmation prompt. Since the notification window is a party wide report, they all saw it and frowned.
Hawkeye approached and asked, “Why no?”
“I don‘t like it.” He said and walked on towards the Trading Center. “I only want one title for myself and until I get that title, I won‘t be entertaining any other title to my name.”
After Siva’s explanation, Volt and the others looked at each other and shrugged.
“Well, that‘s our star player.” Volt teased as Agatha chuckled that made Siva blush.
“Star player.” She repeated and Samara did the same.
Hawkeye ran over to Siva and slapped his shoulder with a heavy hand. For an archer, adding more points to strength can make you pull the string further than those normal stat archers. And at that, also, it adds something to normal actions such as these.
“Ouch! Are you even a woman?!”
“Haha…star player.”
Siva pouted and narrowed his eyes. When they got to where his Portable Expendable Truck is, it was already surrounded by people. Most of them were fussing about the reason why one of the two was moving.
“Trouble.” Hawkeye said.
Siva looked at his group and manipulated his gears to the masked settings. Since it doesn’t belong to his three defaults, he had to manually operate his gears.
Because of the bonus points in weight limits, he can now wear the mask, the cloak, and Cassius Clay at the same time. That was a good bonus. Even for the very famous adventurers like Volt and his group, it was also a first for them to learn that B-rank missions can give rewards.
But then again, the hurdle they had to pass wasn’t an easy one. More like, it was just tough luck that they were able to finish it and still live on.
Siva and them approached their legged truck and Siva went to the one that was shaking from inside.
He opened the trunk entrance and the NPC Trading Manager approached him.
“So you are the owner eh?”
“Yes.” Siva answered since his upper face from nose to his eyes were covered by a white mask.
“A live specimen.” The trader, a middle aged man in knight uniform with a large scar on his forehead that went down to his left eye to his cheek nodded with a smile to him. “Not many hunters are skilled enough to be able to trap one. Well then, open it up.”
As soon as he opened the cargo doors, jaws started dropped and eyes widened in surprise.
Then the trader, a human, spoke in shock, “For the love of God, how did you…”
“It‘s a long story.” Siva said and smiled. “How much will I get with a live dragon?”
***
Loni was chatting with her friends, those that has the same interests in writing novels as her, when Thorn’s name popped up on her screen.
[42:05 You won‘t believe your eyes.]
Thorn’s message piqued her interest and when she opened the email, there was an attached net link. So she clicked the link and her browser went to utube.com and a video started to play.
“42 minutes?”
She could have ignored it but as the minutes and the seconds approached the time allotted by Thorn to watch out for, she saw the reason why she would be shocked and also surprised.
She knew that face, Volt, the most famous explorer.
His name was famous not because he was one of the premier adventurers in Central Continent but because he was the very first engineer to actually accomplish the task that their engineers had been trying to do.
Volt “The Slayer” was the first engineer to defeat an S-ranked monster on his own using the equipments he invented himself. But then, 42:05 is yet to come.
Why 42 minutes…?
As she asked herself this question, 42 minutes and 5 seconds of the video came and she gasped.
It was a familiar face of a long haired man talking to Volt’s group and was laughing with them. But then, when the long haired man saw the person taking the video, a notification window popped up on his vision.
It was in 42:05 time allocated.
[You are inside the Killing Zone. Your defenses are reduced by 70%]
As she read the notification, one party member shot the nanobot recording the video and the video was cut.
She knew that long haired guy.
The Destroyer.
“But…Volt and…and him?!”
In her shock, she paused the video and played it over and over again. She held her breath to steady herself as she counted from the very beginning until the end of the video just how many monsters did they actually kill.
But what actually caught her attention was the one big black lump of moving flesh behind The Destroyer.
Though it was just caught slightly on the camera, the clear silhouette of a huge monster was clearly seen.
“What is that?”
As her count reached 205 in total numbers of dead monsters, all of which are B-ranked monsters, she went on her account and told her friends she‘s going in.
The video spanned for four hours, edited, and even thought the faces of those five people weren’t clear, for those who recognized them from their silhouette and their equipments, there was no doubt that this spelled a sort of premonition that would affect them in the future.
Especially for the still yet to be launched Guild, the Tower of Sol.
Without any further ado, she logged in on the game and was immediately greeted by the offline emails.
And upon reading them one by one, the messages are all the same. They wanted her to come to the HQ as soon as she logged in. And so she did.
Upon entering their HQ…
“Thorn!” Loni yelled and the ten people in there all looked at her with anxiety. “What‘s going on?!”
“It‘s as you‘ve seen, and also, we were just in the middle of discussing it over. Please join us.” Thorn’s expression wasn’t any better than her. More like, as the Guild’s leader, he was the one who’s more anxious than anyone else.
“Just who is that other guy?” Asked the Atlas Sword Mage in the room, Hubert.
“Volt added another monster on his group.” Said an archer, Cramer. “That guy‘s crazy!”
“I agree!” Said Fuma who was sitting cross-armed on Thorn‘s left side. “When I saw that fight for the first time, I felt goosebumps creep all over my body.”
“But who is he?” Asked Hubert and as if being an Atlas Race Sword Mage affected his character, his gaze seemed to add to the mysteriousness of his dark robe and semi armor appearance. “You seem to know him well Thorn, please explain. Is he going to be some block on our plans in the future?”
“I‘m not sure.” Answered Thorn. “But the one thing I can tell is that no one can force that guy to join any group. Though he may give out some motives, we can be sure that he is not part of the Masked Organization.”
“But then why should we be aware of this guy?”
On Cramer’s question, another Archer from the Gonn Race added, “More importantly, why are you very watchful with this man?” that made the rest of the people in the room look at Thorn then to Loni who was standing on his right back side.
At that, Fuma looked at Thorn, and Thorn let go of a long held breath as he started to explain.
“Actually, from our very short meeting, I knew then that that person is going to be a strong player. There is no doubt about that, especially now that you saw how he fights. But what I‘m actually worried about is his goal. If I interpret correctly, his goal and the Masked Organization’s goal doesn‘t differ much.”
“Actually,” Fuma immediately added. “Their only probable difference is that he supposedly works alone.”
“Supposedly?” Cramer raised a brow.
“Yeah. It‘s because when we invited him over to our side, he refused with all possible reasons and had this sort of conviction that no one can actually cop up with him…probably because of his ability.”
Hubert then interrupted, “Speaking of ability…”
“Yes.” Thorn nodded cross-armed. “Killing Zone. I have never heard of such ability before. It‘s probably a Unique Ability.”
“And it‘s a dangerous ability at that.” Fuma added with a finger of conviction. Then Thorn continued.
“But his skills are real combat skills. That‘s why I foresaw that he‘s going to be a problem in the future.”
Upon hearing Thorn’s comments, the room became silent and they all cross-armed nodded. And it was then that Loni took the initiative and discuss what their main problem is.
“But we can‘t leave the fact that The Destroyer had joined Volt‘s party. This could lead to a tumor in our future plans.”
Again, the people fell into silence.
The next moment, Thorn spoke up. “I think it‘s now time for us to move.”
“But the war in the west…” Fuma tried to object but was stopped by Thorn’s hand.
“Espada is a large continent. TGG and the Sylph’s war is not going to affect much our plans. Though what I’m actually afraid of is placed on what would happen during and after the war.”
“I feel that the enemies are planning something.”
“How can you say that?”
Loni who got the attention from Hubert‘s question gave an open palm as she explained slowly. “The Black Group had also been keeping their silence for a while now. I believe that they are planning to stir up another problem that would endanger the balance.”
Thorn’s hands clenched in the table. “That‘s why I feel that we have to move quickly.”
“Hmmm…” Hubert was closed eyed with a face that told them of his serious thoughts. “If we officially launch now, the Masked Organization and the Black Group will simply not stand by. They knew our threat but I‘m afraid a war would lead from our decision.”
“Now I understand how you‘re feeling Thorn.”
Thorn kept his silence after Cramer’s comment. He then looked at the frozen image on his vision which showed the familiar silhouette of The Destroyer and he sighed before he spoke up.
“We have no choice. Can we contact him?”
The question was directed to Fuma. “I’ve tracked the location of the video to Hagonoy. We have people we can order there to keep an eye on the target.”
“Alright. Remind them to keep it stealthy. We never know, they might provoke him. Tell them to wait until we arrive.”
Hubert stared at Thorn wearing a discontented kind of expression. And those eyes lasted for a few more moments until he averted them to the table’s edge.
Just why is he so wary of this Destroyer?
- 91
- 16
- 8
Update 32
Janus
The phone in the office was ringing. Carl picked it up with the notion that he will receive a scolding.
[Where the hell is my report, Carl?!]
“P-President…I-I just got the report, sir, and I was actually on my way to call you.”
[Good gracious! Do I have to call you first to check on it every time?! It‘s been 70 days, Carl! 70 freaking days where I don‘t know what’s already happening to my game world!]
“But sir, there wasn‘t really any visible changes in Terroa since the update…”
[You‘d better be sure about that, Carl, or I will hang your neck with that phone cord.]
Carl gulped and touched his neck. The Boss is angry but then when he thought of his report, the tension he felt all these time vanished and was replaced with a streak of confidence.
“S-Sir…about the report.”
[Come on, tell me. And be quick and precise with it.]
“Ah, actually sir, we found the fruit of the update.”
[Fruit?]
“Y-Yes sir. But you won‘t gonna like it.”
[At this point, Carl, I think there‘s nothing I don‘t like more than you beating the bush. JUST TELL ME!]
“Janus’ restraining program have been overwritten!”
[Janus’ what was overwritten?]
“Janus’ restraining protocol sir. The one that limits the production of quests and missions…sir.”
On the other line, the President made exhales and it sounded calm and composed as opposed to the furious voice on the phone line up until now.
[Tell me, Carl, what does this protocol do? Will it affect the money going in to our pockets?]
“In the long run sir, it will.” Again, Carl swallowed.
[How?] The president’s tone sounded as if the calm before a great storm, that instant when it was just a few moments more before the angry winds came back.
“The Restraining Protocol is the program that let‘s us control Janus from this side, sir. And the update…”
[And the update?]
“And the update not only created a lot of X-Class quests and missions, it also unlocked, no, to put it more accurately, it locked our control over Janus, sir.”
And the sound of something breaking as it hit the wall echoed on Carl’s end. He pulled the ear piece away from his ear as the President’s voice came back with a more thundering and frightening tone.
[What’s that supposed to mean, Carl?! What do you mean we can‘t control Janus?]
“We can’t, sir. The update’s source is still unknown, but the fruit of the update had been traced to directly affect Janus and it unlocked the world Quest-Missions Generation Protocol. Meaning, sir, that from the day of the update, Janus had been operating solely on his own and does not actually require any outside input nor any maintenance.”
[You’re saying that Janus had just became the god of Terroa? Is that what you were saying?]
“Practically sir, yes.”
Again, something fragile broke on the other side.
[…ck! What can we do to reverse it?]
“We can‘t sir.”
[What do you mean we can’t?! It’s just a computer program! Any program cannot operate solely with no person operating and maintaining them from outside. It is definitely a hacking from somewhere!] +
“Sir, if I may, Janus is a product of Neurowaves and computer generated program platform unification. The update came from within the system itself. The only people who really understand how Janus’ core program worked are the ones who invented him. And they were gone sir. The Kingsley Doctors are dead, Sir Alfred Pegasus is still missing until now. Janus locked his external intervention system. His core program is in self sustaining mode. The only way we can touch him is to install or give him update for the game. But even that sir, he’d just absorb the program and alter its original settings to fit in on the world he had created.” 1
[So we’re giving him food instead, is that it?]
“Yes sir. Janus is practically a God now and no one can touch him except to actually find his core program and alter it from inside.”
[Inside?]
“Yes sir. We traced that the update’s core purpose is to create a physical rendering of Janus inside Terroa.”
[So you‘re saying he‘s roaming Terroa as a player?]
“Yes sir. He’s more like camouflaged as a player.”
The president sighed and his heavy breath could be heard on the other line. Carl closed his eyes and balled his fist as the hand that held the hand piece of the phone tightened around it.
[Why would he do that?]
“Probably to operate the world, according to how he is seeing it on a user’s perspective.”
[And how will it affect our financial aspects?]
“If we don’t restore him on his default settings, or at least, stop him from interfering with Terroa according to his whims, you can expect, sir, that he will some day end up getting caught up with the interference acts that he might create quests and missions that’s so hard, no one can actually solve them.”
[No one can solve them…meaning all users who try them will die. Is that it?]
“Yes sir. That‘s a probability.”
At this, point, the president’s voice had calmed but Carl still felt that heavy pressure. But that pressure, he knew, wasn’t coming from President Ethan. It’s coming from the fact that Carl knew what was going to happen to the game in the future.
It was a fact known to all that Terroa was a very, very expensive game. Though it was discounted that a noob buying the game and registering for the first time is entitled to a discount. Once a registered user die once, his next purchase of the game account is already priced at normal. And for any ordinary player, that price was actually too much.
The monthly subscription fee was actually also high, not all players can play the game every month. Some of them skips every other month and that’s also one reason why the ratio of users quitting the game is increasing since with that same routine, while their friends are all constantly getting stronger, he was lacking behind.
With all these considered, if they don’t stop Janus’ rampage, that ratio will continue to increase. And to any other business, less customer, less money. Less money means that the company might close down shop.
If that happens, he would have to find another job.
But with his specialization, his skills, and especially with his standards of a job he wanted to do, he doubt that there would be a company other than Panorama Corp that he would be willing to give his all to work.
For that, he couldn’t help but feel anxious about the president’s decision about this.
[Carl.]
“Sir.”
[Assemble a team of the best players you can find. I will pay their monthly subscription fee. Their mission is going to be to hunt down Janus and kill his avatar if necessary.]
“But sir, that’s…”
[What is it, Carl?]
Carl pursed his lips as he swallowed the words he wanted to say.
“Nothing sir. Just wondering if you still have further orders for me.”
[Actually there is. I want you to create a virus that can attack this update on Janus and install it on him immediately. And while you‘re at it, I want you to also prepare your avatar. You will be our eyes and ears and probably the leader of the assassin squad.] +
Carl was left with no choice but to agree. “Yes sir.”
After all, if there was a great perk on being a staff of the company of the game you play. That would be the rare privilege of playing the game for free.
[Start moving.]
“Yes sir.”
***
Back in the Walled City of Aarun, Siva came in front of the NPC Shop and wore an excited smile.
As soon as he entered the shop he met the Shop Keeper and his usual old face that wore an intelligent expression. Something that you’ll feel on a wise man.
“I heard you sold a live Dragon in Hagonoy?” The Shop Keeper seemed like he was teasing. Siva took out a list from a window he summoned and the Keeper did a glance before he smiled back to him. “These are high grade materials and resources. What do you want to do with these?”
“For the Cassius Clay. Kind of thinking if we could improve them with these.”
“Noooo…” The Shop Keeper shook his head. “I told you already, lad, your armament already reached the last stage of its improvements. If you wanted to use all these materials, you‘ve got to invent a new weapon.”
“Oh!” Siva made a face palm as he frowned. “I kind of remember you saying that.”
“Haaah…you‘re young but you’re already forgetful.”
“Kind of hated it when it came from you.”
“Don‘t hate yourself. You‘ll go crazy.”
Siva flattened his eyes. “…”
“Hahahaha…don’t be hard on your self. Take your time designing, I won’t go anywhere.”
“I was actually hurt by the thing you said.”
“You‘re welcome.”
“Oh come on! Take me seriously here!”
“Hahahaha…Time ticks by. Take a cubicle and start working already or you might end up waiting in line for one to be vacant.”
“Alright. Alright. Light me one up.”
“Oh and by the way, did you use my gift?”
“The guns? No, not yet.”
“Why? I‘m hurt now. It was a gift from me.”
“It‘s not that I didn‘t want to use it. But it‘s just that I haven’t the chance to actually use it when fighting all those monsters. Besides, what was it really that you put in there?”
“Haaaah…go find out yourself.”
Siva shrugged his shoulders and entered a cubicle to do his designs. Designing. It would take some hours before a person finishes. Especially in Siva’s case when he had to rely to imagination, mechanics, computer aid, CAD designs, and those already existing inventions as references to make his weapon. +
“Oh, just curious, where you to next?”
On that question, Siva peeked out of his cubicle door and answered, “Espada.”
“The East? Where to?”
“Thrall Kingdom. You know where it is?”
“Yeah I know it. Been there twice. Well, you might want to visit Silver Road Valley. There are tons of good monster resources there. And I also heard that since the war between TGG and the Sylphs are happening on the nearby kingdom, competition with the monsters are a bit low. You might want to use that chance, lad.”
“Hmm. Thanks for the tip.”
The Shop Keeper gave Siva a wink while Siva gave a brow paired with a thankful smile back. He waved a hand to the old man and came back to lock his cubicle.
A smile and a nod came from the Shop Keeper and he also came back on manipulating his hologram panel.
Then, after a while, another customer entered the shop and the bell on the top of the door rang lightly.
“Good morning mister Janus.” Said a female archer cheerfully. She took out her bow and then presented it in front of the keeper’s desk. “I followed your advice and it worked! Thank you so much!”
“Ahaha…well, glad to hear it. So what‘s with your bow? Did it broke or need some fixing?”
Siva
Chaptar 1 [End]
Janus
The phone in the office was ringing. Carl picked it up with the notion that he will receive a scolding.
[Where the hell is my report, Carl?!]
“P-President…I-I just got the report, sir, and I was actually on my way to call you.”
[Good gracious! Do I have to call you first to check on it every time?! It‘s been 70 days, Carl! 70 freaking days where I don‘t know what’s already happening to my game world!]
“But sir, there wasn‘t really any visible changes in Terroa since the update…”
[You‘d better be sure about that, Carl, or I will hang your neck with that phone cord.]
Carl gulped and touched his neck. The Boss is angry but then when he thought of his report, the tension he felt all these time vanished and was replaced with a streak of confidence.
“S-Sir…about the report.”
[Come on, tell me. And be quick and precise with it.]
“Ah, actually sir, we found the fruit of the update.”
[Fruit?]
“Y-Yes sir. But you won‘t gonna like it.”
[At this point, Carl, I think there‘s nothing I don‘t like more than you beating the bush. JUST TELL ME!]
“Janus’ restraining program have been overwritten!”
[Janus’ what was overwritten?]
“Janus’ restraining protocol sir. The one that limits the production of quests and missions…sir.”
On the other line, the President made exhales and it sounded calm and composed as opposed to the furious voice on the phone line up until now.
[Tell me, Carl, what does this protocol do? Will it affect the money going in to our pockets?]
“In the long run sir, it will.” Again, Carl swallowed.
[How?] The president’s tone sounded as if the calm before a great storm, that instant when it was just a few moments more before the angry winds came back.
“The Restraining Protocol is the program that let‘s us control Janus from this side, sir. And the update…”
[And the update?]
“And the update not only created a lot of X-Class quests and missions, it also unlocked, no, to put it more accurately, it locked our control over Janus, sir.”
And the sound of something breaking as it hit the wall echoed on Carl’s end. He pulled the ear piece away from his ear as the President’s voice came back with a more thundering and frightening tone.
[What’s that supposed to mean, Carl?! What do you mean we can‘t control Janus?]
“We can’t, sir. The update’s source is still unknown, but the fruit of the update had been traced to directly affect Janus and it unlocked the world Quest-Missions Generation Protocol. Meaning, sir, that from the day of the update, Janus had been operating solely on his own and does not actually require any outside input nor any maintenance.”
[You’re saying that Janus had just became the god of Terroa? Is that what you were saying?]
“Practically sir, yes.”
Again, something fragile broke on the other side.
[…ck! What can we do to reverse it?]
“We can‘t sir.”
[What do you mean we can’t?! It’s just a computer program! Any program cannot operate solely with no person operating and maintaining them from outside. It is definitely a hacking from somewhere!] +
“Sir, if I may, Janus is a product of Neurowaves and computer generated program platform unification. The update came from within the system itself. The only people who really understand how Janus’ core program worked are the ones who invented him. And they were gone sir. The Kingsley Doctors are dead, Sir Alfred Pegasus is still missing until now. Janus locked his external intervention system. His core program is in self sustaining mode. The only way we can touch him is to install or give him update for the game. But even that sir, he’d just absorb the program and alter its original settings to fit in on the world he had created.” 1
[So we’re giving him food instead, is that it?]
“Yes sir. Janus is practically a God now and no one can touch him except to actually find his core program and alter it from inside.”
[Inside?]
“Yes sir. We traced that the update’s core purpose is to create a physical rendering of Janus inside Terroa.”
[So you‘re saying he‘s roaming Terroa as a player?]
“Yes sir. He’s more like camouflaged as a player.”
The president sighed and his heavy breath could be heard on the other line. Carl closed his eyes and balled his fist as the hand that held the hand piece of the phone tightened around it.
[Why would he do that?]
“Probably to operate the world, according to how he is seeing it on a user’s perspective.”
[And how will it affect our financial aspects?]
“If we don’t restore him on his default settings, or at least, stop him from interfering with Terroa according to his whims, you can expect, sir, that he will some day end up getting caught up with the interference acts that he might create quests and missions that’s so hard, no one can actually solve them.”
[No one can solve them…meaning all users who try them will die. Is that it?]
“Yes sir. That‘s a probability.”
At this, point, the president’s voice had calmed but Carl still felt that heavy pressure. But that pressure, he knew, wasn’t coming from President Ethan. It’s coming from the fact that Carl knew what was going to happen to the game in the future.
It was a fact known to all that Terroa was a very, very expensive game. Though it was discounted that a noob buying the game and registering for the first time is entitled to a discount. Once a registered user die once, his next purchase of the game account is already priced at normal. And for any ordinary player, that price was actually too much.
The monthly subscription fee was actually also high, not all players can play the game every month. Some of them skips every other month and that’s also one reason why the ratio of users quitting the game is increasing since with that same routine, while their friends are all constantly getting stronger, he was lacking behind.
With all these considered, if they don’t stop Janus’ rampage, that ratio will continue to increase. And to any other business, less customer, less money. Less money means that the company might close down shop.
If that happens, he would have to find another job.
But with his specialization, his skills, and especially with his standards of a job he wanted to do, he doubt that there would be a company other than Panorama Corp that he would be willing to give his all to work.
For that, he couldn’t help but feel anxious about the president’s decision about this.
[Carl.]
“Sir.”
[Assemble a team of the best players you can find. I will pay their monthly subscription fee. Their mission is going to be to hunt down Janus and kill his avatar if necessary.]
“But sir, that’s…”
[What is it, Carl?]
Carl pursed his lips as he swallowed the words he wanted to say.
“Nothing sir. Just wondering if you still have further orders for me.”
[Actually there is. I want you to create a virus that can attack this update on Janus and install it on him immediately. And while you‘re at it, I want you to also prepare your avatar. You will be our eyes and ears and probably the leader of the assassin squad.] +
Carl was left with no choice but to agree. “Yes sir.”
After all, if there was a great perk on being a staff of the company of the game you play. That would be the rare privilege of playing the game for free.
[Start moving.]
“Yes sir.”
***
Back in the Walled City of Aarun, Siva came in front of the NPC Shop and wore an excited smile.
As soon as he entered the shop he met the Shop Keeper and his usual old face that wore an intelligent expression. Something that you’ll feel on a wise man.
“I heard you sold a live Dragon in Hagonoy?” The Shop Keeper seemed like he was teasing. Siva took out a list from a window he summoned and the Keeper did a glance before he smiled back to him. “These are high grade materials and resources. What do you want to do with these?”
“For the Cassius Clay. Kind of thinking if we could improve them with these.”
“Noooo…” The Shop Keeper shook his head. “I told you already, lad, your armament already reached the last stage of its improvements. If you wanted to use all these materials, you‘ve got to invent a new weapon.”
“Oh!” Siva made a face palm as he frowned. “I kind of remember you saying that.”
“Haaah…you‘re young but you’re already forgetful.”
“Kind of hated it when it came from you.”
“Don‘t hate yourself. You‘ll go crazy.”
Siva flattened his eyes. “…”
“Hahahaha…don’t be hard on your self. Take your time designing, I won’t go anywhere.”
“I was actually hurt by the thing you said.”
“You‘re welcome.”
“Oh come on! Take me seriously here!”
“Hahahaha…Time ticks by. Take a cubicle and start working already or you might end up waiting in line for one to be vacant.”
“Alright. Alright. Light me one up.”
“Oh and by the way, did you use my gift?”
“The guns? No, not yet.”
“Why? I‘m hurt now. It was a gift from me.”
“It‘s not that I didn‘t want to use it. But it‘s just that I haven’t the chance to actually use it when fighting all those monsters. Besides, what was it really that you put in there?”
“Haaaah…go find out yourself.”
Siva shrugged his shoulders and entered a cubicle to do his designs. Designing. It would take some hours before a person finishes. Especially in Siva’s case when he had to rely to imagination, mechanics, computer aid, CAD designs, and those already existing inventions as references to make his weapon. +
“Oh, just curious, where you to next?”
On that question, Siva peeked out of his cubicle door and answered, “Espada.”
“The East? Where to?”
“Thrall Kingdom. You know where it is?”
“Yeah I know it. Been there twice. Well, you might want to visit Silver Road Valley. There are tons of good monster resources there. And I also heard that since the war between TGG and the Sylphs are happening on the nearby kingdom, competition with the monsters are a bit low. You might want to use that chance, lad.”
“Hmm. Thanks for the tip.”
The Shop Keeper gave Siva a wink while Siva gave a brow paired with a thankful smile back. He waved a hand to the old man and came back to lock his cubicle.
A smile and a nod came from the Shop Keeper and he also came back on manipulating his hologram panel.
Then, after a while, another customer entered the shop and the bell on the top of the door rang lightly.
“Good morning mister Janus.” Said a female archer cheerfully. She took out her bow and then presented it in front of the keeper’s desk. “I followed your advice and it worked! Thank you so much!”
“Ahaha…well, glad to hear it. So what‘s with your bow? Did it broke or need some fixing?”
Siva
Chaptar 1 [End]